:.AL 


BR  121  .V37  1884  c.l 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  1852-1933 

The  reality  of  religi, 


gion 


THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 


THE 


REALITY  OF  RELIGION 


BY 

HENRY  j/VAN  DYKE,  JR.,  d.d. 

PASTOR  OF   THE   BRICK   CHURCH,  NEW  YORK 


Fecisti  nos  ad  Te,  et  inquietiim  est 
cor  nostrum  donee  requiescat  in  Te. 

St,  Aug.  Conf.  i.  i. 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1884 


Copyright,  1884, 
By  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge : 
Electrotyped  and  printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Co. 


PREFACE. 


•  s 


IG& 


Amid  the  strife  of  systems  and  the  war 
of  words  our  souls  are  thirsting  for  the  liv- 
ing God.  We  long  to  find  and  know  Him, 
to  touch  Him  with  the  outstretched  hands 
of  faith  and  love,  to  feel  Him  drawing  near 
to  us  and  filling  the  dry  cisterns  of  our  lives 
with  the  sweet,  clear  waters  of  Divine  com- 
munion. Even  as  one  who  has  wandered 
long  in  the  desert  yearns  and  pants  for  the 
flowing  spring,  so  our  heart  and  flesh  cry 
out  for  God. 

After  all,  this  is  the  deepest  need  of  hu- 
manity. This  is  what  we  desire  most  ar- 
dently :  not  so  much  the  proof  of  theories 
and  the  unfolding  of  doctrines  ;  not  so  much 
the  criticism  of  Scripture  and  the  triumph- 
ant vindication  of  certain  forms  of  belief ; 
not  so  much  the  development  of  more  elab- 
orate modes  of  worship  and  church  govern- 
ment, or  the  return  to  a  more  primitive  sim- 
plicity ;  not  anything  in  the  world  do  we 


Ylli  PREFACE. 

desire  so  much  as  to  come  into  close  and 
living  contact  with  that  Perfect  and  Eter- 
nal Spirit  in  whom  our  souls  must  find  their 
only  rest. 

We  do  not  sneer  at  the  dogmas  of  theol- 
ogy. They  are  certainly  as  important  as 
the  dogmas  of  science.  We  do  not  despise 
the  questions  of  ritual.  They  are  at  least 
of  equal  consequence  with  the  questions  of 
social  order.  But  relic/ion  is  infinitel}^  be- 
yond all  these.  It  is  more  vital  and  more 
profound.  It  does  not  appeal  to  the  intel- 
lect alone.  It  is  not  satisfied  with  the  con- 
clusions of  logic.  Nor  does  it  rest  at  ease 
upon  the  aesthetic  sense.  It  reaches  down 
into  the  very  depths  of  the  living,  throb- 
bing human  heart,  and  stirs  a  longing  which 
nothing  outward  and  formal  can  ever  still, 
—  the  longing  for  personal  fellowship  ivith 
God. 

Yet  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  a  great 
part  of  our  religious  life  comes  far  short 
of  this.  We  play  with  forms  and  sym- 
bols ;  we  repeat  creeds  and  prayers  ;  we  let 
others  do  our  thinking  and  feeling  for  us, 


PREFACE.  IX 

and  then  vainly  strive  to  lift  ourselves,  by 
an  effort  of  the  Avill,  to  the  height  of  their 
experience.  Is  it  not  true  ?  Has  it  never 
come  over  you  like  a  shadow  of  gloom? 
Have  you  never  sat  in  the  church,  —  your 
eyes  delighted  with  the  solemnities  of  arch 
and  window,  —  your  ears  thrilled  with  the 
rushing  music  of  great  psalms,  —  but  your 
heart  empty  and  sad,  yearniug  for  some- 
thing more  and  better,  without  which  all 
the  rest  is  but  a  hollow  dream  ?  Have  you 
never  followed  with  painful  care  the  course 
of  some  intense  theological  controversy,  link- 
ing your  mind  with  the  tempered  steel  of 
closest  argument  to  the  right  conclusion, 
and  then  asked  at  the  end,  ''But  where  is 
my  God?" 

Surely  there  must  be  something  more 
than  forms,  either  of  worship  or  of  belief. 
There  must  be  realities,  which  we  can  feel 
and  know  in  the  innermost  recesses  of  our 
spiritual  life.  And  if  we  can  once  touch 
these  and  hold  them  fast,  then  our  souls  will 
be  satisfied,  and  we  shall  not  be  greatly 
moved.     The  lesser  conflict  may  long  con- 


X  PREFACE. 

tinue ;  the  strife  about  modes  and  degrees, 
the  controversies  of  doctrine  and  ritual,  may 
pass  like  storms  across  the  world,  but  we 
who  have  touched  the  realities  can  wait  in 
patience  and  in  peace,  as  those  who  have 
entered  into  rest  and  victory  even  in  the 
midst  of  conflict. 

I  believe  that  there  are  men  and  women 
of  every  class  and  creed,  scattered  through- 
out the  world,  who  have  felt,  with  pain  and 
hunger  of  heart,  this  craving  for  reality  in 
religion.  And  to  them,  as  to  unknown 
friends,  to  whom  I  am  bound  by  the  secret 
tie  of  a  common  need  and  a  common  hope, 
I  send  out  this  little  book. 

It  was  written  from  the  heart,  and  per- 
haps this  may  help  it  to  find  its  way  to  the 
heart.  It  has  no  reference  to  points  of 
temporary  interest  or  transient  dispute.  It 
does  not  attempt  to  defend  an  old  theol- 
ogy. Nor  does  it  profess  to  teach  a  new 
theology.  For  I  think  that  it  matters  lit- 
tle whether  a  theology  be  new  or  old  ;  the 
one  thing  needful  is  that  it  should  be  real 
and  true.      And  this  I  am   sure   of,    that 


PREFACE.  xi 

the  life  of  Moses  and  David  and  Isaiah 
and  Paul  and  John,  —  the  life  which  throbs 
and  burns  with  "  unquench^d  fire,"  in  every 
page  of  the  Bible  histories,  —  the  life  that 
was  filled  to  overflowing  with  the  conscious 
presence  of  God,  is  the  highest  and  best 
life  ever  reached  by  man.  It  is  the  same 
in  every  age  :  ever  old  and  ever  new.  And 
the  secret  of  it  lies  in  the  reality  of  re- 
ligion. 

No  one  can  see  the  defects  and  short- 
comings of  this  book  more  clearly  than  I 
do.  And  certainly  no  one  else  can  regret 
them  so  much.  Many  things  have  been 
touched  but  briefly  and  imperfectly  ;  many 
thoughts  have  failed,  and  could  not  help 
failing,  to  find  such  expression  in  words 
as  should  make  them  clear  and  luminous ; 
and  much  of  what  is  best  and  deepest  has 
been  left  untouched.  Writing  to-day  in  a 
very  lonely  place,  far  away  from  the  noise 
and  talk  of  the  world,  with  the  everlasting 
hills  looking  down  in  silent  majesty  upon 
me,  I  feel  that  human  language  cannot  ut- 
ter the  deep  things  of  God  and  the   soul. 


xii  PREFACE. 

But  if  this  book,  with  all  its  imperfections, 
shall  find  its  way  to  one  heart  that  wants  it, 
—  if  it  shall  bring  help  and  strength  to  one 
of  my  fellow-men  who  is  striving  to  enter 
into  the  realities  of  spiritual  life,  its  2^ur' 
pose  will  be  accomplished  and  its  reward 
abwidant. 

It  would  be  impossible  in  a  work  of  this 
character  to  make  acknowledgment  of  all 
my  obligations  for  thoughts  and  illustra- 
tions. But  I  cannot  forbear  to  mention  my 
profound  indebtedness  to  the  "  University 
Sermons  "  of  Canon  Liddon,  the  "  Theolog- 
ical Essays"  of  Mr.  Richard  Holt  Hutton, 
Professor  Robert  Flint's  "  Theism,"  and  Dr. 
W.  G.  T.  Shedd's  "  Sermons  to  the  Spirit- 
ual Man." 

Sabanac  Lake, 

August,  1884. 


CONTENTS. 


V^nurtnir  o^ 


— »— 

FAOB 

I.  A  Real  Religion  necessary 1 

II.   The  Living  God 25 

III.  The  Living  Soul 47 

IV.  The  Living  Word 71 

V.  The  Living  Sacrifice 97 

VI.  The  Living  Christ 121 


I. 

A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY. 


I. 


St.  John  iv.  24.     God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  that  worship 
Him  mtist  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

This  text  is  central.  It  is  a  starting- 
point  from  which  we  may  set  out  to  ex- 
plore many  regions  of  truth.  It  is  a  con- 
verging point  at  which  many  lines  of 
experience  and  reasoning  come  together. 
It  is  a  polar  point,  fixed,  immovable,  se- 
cure, by  which  we  may  correct  our  reck- 
onings and  lay  out  our  courses,  even  as 
that  pale,  cold  star  in  heaven,  which  ever 
keeps  the  same  place  and  about  which  the 
greater  and  the  lesser  lights  are  wheeling, 
—  even  as  the  steadfast  north  star  is  the 
corrector  of  all  compasses  and  the  mari- 
ner's constant  guide  over  the  trackless 
waste  of  waters. 

And  yet  this  text  was  first  spoken  to  an 


4  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

unknown  and  ignorant  woman  who  had 
come  to  draw  water  from  a  wayside  well. 
She  was  not  wise,  she  was  not  cultured,  she 
was  not  high-minded.  She  was  not  even 
one  of  the  chosen  people  of  God.  She  was 
as  common  and  dull  a  soul  as  you  might 
have  found  in  the  poor  Samaritan  city  of 
Sychar.  Yet  to  her  this  sublime  and  cen- 
tral truth  was  first  uttered  from  the  lips  of 
Christ ;  proving  that  God  is  sovereign  in 
his  revelations,  enlightening  whom  He  will, 
and  having  no  respect  of  persons.  And 
by  her  it  was  received  ;  proving  that  the 
simplest  human  soul  is  adapted  to  the  re- 
ception of  the  heavenly  light,  which  needs 
but  the  open  heart  to  flow  in,  bringing  ful- 
ness of  wisdom  and  eternal  life. 

Look  closely  at  this  verse,  I  pray  you, 
before  we  enter  upon  the  course  of  thought 
which  is  to  engage  us  for  a  little  while. 
We  are  about  to  study  the  reality  of  relig- 
ion. We  want  to  reach  the  essence  of  it ; 
to  pierce  through  the  outer  shell;  to  lay 
aside  all  uncertainties  and  shams  and  illu- 
sions,—  yes,  to  lay  aside  even  those  things 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  5 

which,  while  true  and  genuine  in  them- 
selves, are  yet  secondarj^  and  non-essential, 
and,  if  it  be  possible,  to  stand  face  to  face 
with  the  naked  facts ;  to  strip  away  all 
ornaments  and  trivialities,  and  with  open 
eyes,  reverently  but  clearl}^  behold  the  real 
life  of  the  soul  in  its  relation  to  God,  lay- 
ing hold  with  firm  and  true  grasp  on  "  the 
substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence 
of  tilings  not  seen."  The  substance,  not 
the  shadow.  No  mere  form,  nor  theory, 
nor  idea,  but  the  reality  of  religion. 

Here,  then,  is  our  point  of  departure. 
This  word  of  the  world's  Teacher,  clear, 
luminous,  unmistakable,  spoken  so  simply 
and  naturally  in  the  course  of  a  roadside 
talk  with  a  stranger,  and  yet  reaching  down 
in  the  profundity  of  its  meaning  to  the  very 
bottom  depth  of  thought,  —  this  word  is 
more  than  worthy  to  stand  at  the  beoin- 
ning  of  our  meditations.  For  it  declares 
unto  us  that  which  we  are  seeking,  —  God, 
the  human  soul,  the  real  and  living  tie 
which  joins  them.  And  all  our  reasoning 
beyond  this  will  be  but  the  verifying  and 


6  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

unfolding  of  Christ's  sublime  utterance  in 
the  light  of  other  facts  and  other  rays  of 
revelation. 

But,  for  the  present,  we  must  mark  most 
carefully  the  spirit  and  purpose  in  which 
these  words  were  spoken.  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, weary  and  thirsty,  is  sitting  beside  the 
well  of  Jacob,  just  outside  the  city  of  Sy- 
char.  A  woman  comes  to  draw  water.  He 
asks  her  for  a  drink.  But  He  desires  some- 
thing more  than  He  asks  for.  He  is  thirst- 
ing for  the  salvation  of  this  poor  woman's 
soul ;  and  so  He  makes  His  simple  request 
for  a  draught  of  water  the  occasion  of  a 
conversation  upon  higher  themes,  to  which 
He  leads  the  way  as  skilfully  and  courte- 
ously as  if  He  were  speaking  to  a  princess. 
He  introduces  the  subject  of  religion. 

How  does  she  meet  it  ?  She  imagines 
that  she  is  already  a  religious  person.  And 
doubtless,  in  a  certain  sense,  she  is.  She 
has  a  creed,  she  has  a  church,  she  says  her 
prayers.  But  the  first  thought  which  rises 
in  her  mind  at  the  mention  of  religion  is  the 
difference  between  His  creed,  as  a  Jew,  and 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  7 

hers,  as  a  Samaritan.  She  descends  in- 
stantly upon  the  fact  that  He  worships  in 
one  Temple,  she  in  another.  She  touches  at 
once,  with  a  firm  and  conflict-seeking  hand, 
upon  the  great  standing  quarrel  between 
His  people  and  hers.  "  Our  fathers  wor- 
shipped in  this  mountain,  and  ye  say  that 
in  Jerusalem  is  the  place  where  men  ought 
to  worship."  This,  chiefly,  is  what  religion 
means  to  her ;  an  outward  form,  a  visible 
worship,  a  sacred  locality,  a  bitter  enmity 
against  all  who  hold  a  different  tradition  of 
the  true  place  and  mode  of  divine  service. 
And  is  it  not  natural  for  her  to  feel  thus  ? 
Doubtless  the  controversy  between  the 
Jews  and  the  Samaritans  is  the  religious 
topic  which  she  has  heard  discussed  most 
frequently.  Doubtless  she  has  been  taught 
to  rest  with  confidence  upon  the  superiority 
of  Mount  Gerizim  to  Mount  Zion,  and  con- 
tent her  soul  with  the  scrupulous  observ- 
ance of  those  forms  and  feasts  which  her 
people  regarded  as  essential  to  the  true  re- 
ligion. She  cannot  understand  the  need  or 
the  possibility  of  learning  anything  about 


8  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGIOK. 

religion  from  a  man  whose  fathers  wor- 
sliipped  in  Jerusalem. 

But  Christ  sweeps  away  all  this  as  the 
wind  sweeps  a  mist  from  the  mountain. 
This  is  unsubstantial  and  unreal.  This 
question  of  modes  and  places,  this  strife  be- 
tween Gerizim  and  Zion,  will  vanish  in  the 
coming  years  like  a  wraith  of  vapor.  If 
reliacion  were  no  more  than  this  it  would 
be  a  vain  thing,  —  empty,  worthless,  perish- 
ing; not  a  spring  of  living  water,  but  a 
shimmering  mirage  at  which  no  soul  could 
ever  truly  quench  its  thirst.  Behind  all 
visible  forms,  beneath  all  outward  appear- 
ances, lies  the  reality  of  religion,  —  the  liv- 
ing intercourse  of  the  living  soul  with  the 
living  God.  Worship  is  the  embodiment; 
but,  without  the  vital  spark,  worship  is  onl}'^ 
a  body,  a  puppet,  a  corpse,  a  mockery.  For 
God  is  spirit^  and  they  that  ivorship  Him 
must  tvorsMp  Him  in  sj^irit  and  in  truth. 

This  was  what  the  woman  of  Samaria  in 
her  foolish  blindness,  in  her  dull  content 
with  a  mere  sham  of  a  religion,  needed  to 
learn.    And  this  is  what  we  also,  in  this  age 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  9 

of  shams,  when  there  is  so  much  talk  on  the 
surface  and  so  little  thought  in  the  depths, 
need  to  learn  and  to  remember,  for  the 
peace  and  welfare  of  our  souls.  Shall  we 
shrink  from  the  pain  and  labor  of  the  les- 
son ?  Would  you  rather  dwell  in  the  care- 
less ease  of  a  traditional  creed  and  a  formal 
worship,  and  hear  your  chosen  preacher 
speak  pleasantly  of  indifferent  themes,  or 
draw  bright  pictures  of  Scripture  heroes, 
or  justify  with  ponderous  argument  the 
claims  of  your  ecclesiastical  Mount  Geilzim 
against  all  the  mountains  of  the  other  sects? 
When  the  air  is  filled  with  sneers  and  scoffs 
and  questions,  when  men  treat  Ghiistianity 
with  polite  contempt  as  a  modern  scientist 
might  treat  a  ghost,  when  they  say  to  you, 
coarsely  or  courteously  as  the  case  may  be, 
"After  all,  your  religion  is  only  a  dream," 
will  you  reply,  as  some  have  done,  "  Well, 
if  it  be  a  dream  I  pray  you  do  not  waken 
me"? 

Nay,  if  it  be  a  dream,  —  if  these  precious 
hopes,  these  aspirations  and  yearnings  of 
the  soul,  these   consolations  of   faith,   this 


10  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

Father's  hand  touching  ours  in  the  dark- 
ness, this  Saviour's  face  shining  through 
the  gloom  of  death,  this  hell  to  shun,  this 
blessed  heaven  to  win,  —  if  this  be  all  a 
dream,  then  I  pray  God,  if  there  be  a  God, 
or  any  power,  benign  or  baleful,  above  our 
human  life,  waken  me  !  Yes,  though  the 
thunderbolt  shatter  my  fancied  bliss  for- 
ever. Yes,  though  the  lightning-flash  of 
truth  sear  my  brain  to  the  quick,  —  waken 
me !  For  the  soul  sunk  in  dreams  is  lost 
even  here.  I  will  not  waste  my  only  life 
in  visions.  Better  a  dreadful  truth  than 
the  sweetest  lie.  I  will  give  a  whole  world 
of  golden  dreams  for  just  one  handful  of 
reality. 

But  is  this  attainable  ?  Is  it  possible  for 
us  ever  to  find  in  the  sphere  of  religion  any- 
thing so  clear  and  firm  and  tangible  that  we 
can  lay  hold  of  it  with  positive  assurance, 
as  we  grasp  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  as  we  record 
a  fact  of  history,  as  we  formulate  a  law  of 
science,  and  say,  "  This  is  real,  this  we 
touch,  this  we  know,  it  cannot  be  shaken  "  ? 

Here,  you  see,  is  the  question,  —  a  ques- 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  11 

tion  which  does  not  merely  divide  atheists 
from  theists,  and  infidels  from  believers,  but 
rises  also  within  the  ranks  of  faith,  and 
separates  the  professed  defenders  of  Chris- 
tianity into  two  great  classes.  On  the  one 
side  are  those  who  regard  religion  as  a  mat- 
ter of  theory,  J_ogical,  consistent,  defensible, 
but  entirely  separate  in  its  proofs  and  meth- 
ods from  the  ordinary  sphere  of  our  intel- 
lectual and  practical  life.  On  the  other 
side  are  those  who  regard  religion  as  a  mat- 
ter' of  fact,  substantial,  actual,  undeniable, 
entering  into  the  life  of  man  with  a  pres- 
ence as  real  and  tangible  as  the  perceptions 
of  our  senses  or  the  laws  of  science  and 
society.  On  which  side  shall  we  take  our 
stand?  Which  view  of  religion  shall  we 
adopt?  How  shall  we  regard  our  faith? 
As  a  power  which  supposes,  and  imagines, 
and  acts  as  if  certain  things  were  true  ?  Or 
as  a  power  which  actually  brings  us  into 
vital  contact  with  realities  ? 

Certainly,  for  my  own  part,  I  cannot  but 
accept  the  latter  view.  There  is  no  rest 
for  my  soul  anywhere  else.     Nor  is  there 


12  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

rest  for  any  one  who  truly  desires  and  seeks 
tJie  truth  save  in  the  finding  and  grasping 
of  it.  It  is  my  hope  to  be  able  to  show 
that  the  only  religion  worth  having  is  a  re- 
ligion that  deals  with  realities,  and  that  this 
is  attainable  for  every  one  who  earnestly 
strives  after  it.  The  attempt  to  do  this  will 
lead  us  to  take  up  in  succession  the  great 
factoral  ideas  of  Christianity,  —  God,  the 
human  soul,  revelation,  atonement,  holi- 
ness, communion,  the  future  life, —  and  look 
them  fairly  in  the  face,  trying  to  discern 
their  reality. 

But,  before  we  do  this,  there  are  certain 
preliminary  questions  in  regard  to  which 
we  ought  to  have  a  clear  understanding. 
What  is  meant  by  reality  in  religion? 
What  are  the  marks  and  dangers  of  unre- 
ality in  religion  ?  What  makes  it  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  our  souls  to  have  a  real 
religion  ? 

I.  By  reality  in  religion  we  do  not  mean 
that  its  facts,  relations,  and  experiences  are 
of  a  corporeal  nature,  and  can  be  reduced 
to  terms  of  matter  and  force.     We  do  not 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  13 

mean  that  the  face  of  God  can  be  seen  ma- 
terially, or  that  his  voice  can  be  heard  with 
the  outward  ear,  as  we  see  the  face  and 
hear  the  voice  of  a  friend.  We  do  not  mean 
that  religion  is  a  literal  and  physical  touch- 
ing  of  Him.  For,  even  if  this  were  possi- 
ble, it  would  not  be  the  highest  kind  of 
reality.  Such  a  religion  would  be  phenom- 
enal: that  is  to  say,  it  would  be  a  mat- 
ter of  appearances  addressed  to  the  bodily 
senses;  and  the  first  lesson  of  philosophy 
is  that  these  senses  often  and  grievously 
deceive  us. 

Appearances  are  not  realities.  Far  from 
it.  The  little  child  sees  the  rainbow  glit- 
tering against  the  skirts  of  the  departing 
storm.  It  seems  to  him  a  solid  and  tangible 
arch,  and  he  runs  to  find  the  place  where 
its  golden  pillars  rest  upon  the  earth.  But 
they  vanish  before  him.  Is  the  rainbow, 
then,  unreal  ?  Not  so ;  but  the  reality  is 
hidden  behind  the  shining  bow  of  many 
colors.  It  is  in  the  unseen  sunbeam  re- 
fracted in  the  last  crystal  drops  of  the  pass- 
ing shower.     That  which  appears  is  delu- 


14  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

sive.  It  is  only  by  a  larger  experience  and 
a  higher  knowledge  that  the  child  reaches 
the  reality. 

And  so  there  are  many  real  and  true 
things  which  are  not  visible  to  the  senses 
even  by  an  image  or  reflection.  Love,  grat- 
itude, virtue,  hope,  —  who  has  ever  touched 
or  seen  these  things  ?  Yet  they  are  so  real 
that  compared  with  them  the  whole  round 
globe  often  seems  to  us  like  an  unsubstan- 
tial bubble. 

When  a  man  says  to  me,  "  If  your  re- 
ligion is  real,  show  me  your  God,"  I  an- 
swer, "  If  your  doubt  is  real,  show  me  your 
mind." 

On  the  other  hand,  by  reality  in  religion 
we  do  not  mean  merely  sincerity  of  convic- 
tion in  the  heart  of  the  believer.  There  is 
much  foolish  talk  in  this  direction.  Men 
speak  as  if  honesty  of  belief  were  the  only 
thing  to  be  demanded,  and  profess  an  equal 
reverence  for  all  religious  creeds,  on  the 
ground  that  whatever  a  man  accepts  can- 
didly, with  his  whole  soul,  is  for  him  the 
truth. 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  15 

But,  surely,  to  talk  thus  is  a  mere  jug- 
gling with  words.  For  though  a  million 
men  may  believe  sincerely  that  Mahomet's 
coffin  hangs  suspended  in  mid-air,  this  does 
not  make  it  true.  No  intensity  of  convic- 
tion can  lend  reality  to  an  illusion,  or  make 
a  dream  substantial  and  abiding.  As  well 
might  we  imagine  that  the  fancy  of  the 
child  can  give  a  body  to  the  rainbow's  van^ 
ishing  pillars,  as  that  the  faith  of  a  man 
can  make  his  religion  real. 

What  we  are  seeking  is  something  deeper 
than  phenomena,  something  more  substan- 
tial than  sincerity.  It  is  the  actual  exist- 
ence of  facts  on  which  religion  is  based  : 
powers,  relations,  experiences  in  human  life 
which  cannot  be  explained  without  relig- 
ion, and  to  which  the  contents  of  our  faith 
and  worship  correspond  as  the  image  in  the 
glass  answers  to  the  object  which  is  reflected. 
They  do  not  depend  for  their  existence 
upon  our  beholding  them.  They  are  inde- 
pendent, self  -  existent,  everlasting.  They 
are  the  unseen  realities  of  the  spiritual 
world  through  which  we  are  walking  every 


16  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

moment.  They  are  close  about  us.  They 
press  upon  us.  When  we  are  conscious  of 
them,  when  we  recognize  them,  when  we 
live  in  them  and  for  them,  then  our  relig- 
ion is  real. 

II.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  standard  by 
which  we  can  discern  the  marks  and  meas- 
ure the  dangers  of  unreality  in  our  relig- 
ious life.  The  willingness  to  rest  content, 
either  with  dreams  or  with  traditions,  pro- 
vided they  are  good  and  pleasant  ;  the 
shrinking  from  all  serious  and  searching 
inquiry ;  the  separation  of  faith  and  wor- 
ship from  the  sphere  of  every-day  life  ;  the 
keeping  of  religion  secluded  in  a  dreamy 
and  secret  place  of  the  soul  as  in  a  garden 
enclosed,  —  all  these  are  signs  of  a  ten- 
dency towards  the  unreal.  And  these  we 
may  discover  not  only  in  the  Christian 
world  at  large,  but  also  more  or  less  clearly 
in  our  own  hearts. 

If  we  look  for  the  causes  of  this  ten- 
dency, we  shall  find  one  of  them,  and  tliat 
not  the  least  important,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
age,  which  exalts  the  human  reason  as  the 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  17 

absolute  monarch  in  the  realm  of  religion.  ^ 
It  makes  man  the  measure  of  all  thinsfs. 
It  depreciates  the  objective  reality  and  ex- 
aggerates the  subjective  process.  Accord- 
ing to  this  philosophy  all  wisdom  proceeds 
from  man,  all  truth  is  conditioned  by  his 
perception  of  it,  and  all  religious  truth  is 
either  formed  or  created  by  the  human 
mind.  Thus  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
are  only  "the  successive  evolutions  or  in- 
crustations of  human  thought,"  and  faith 
has  really  no  higher  authority  than  that 
which  it  derives  from  the  consent  of  men. 
There  are  professed  Christian  thinkers  who 
virtually  take  this  ground.  They  say  that 
this  authority  is  enough.  They  say  that 
nothing  higher  is  within  reach.  They  say, 
we  can  never  touch  the  realities;  all  we  _ 
can  do  is  to  take  them  for  granted  ;  act  as 
if  they  were  true,  and  this  will  give  us  a 
religion  which  is  good  enough  for  any  man, 
since  it  will  supply  the  great  need,  namely, 
a  system  of  rules  for  the  regulation  of  the 
spiritual  and  practical  life. 

At  this  point,  however,  the  defenders  of 


18  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

an  hypothetical  religion  divide  into  two 
schools. 

On  tbe  one  side  are  the  ceremonialists, 
who  hold  that  the  first  necessity  of  man's 
life  is  an  orderly  and  beautiful  form  of  wor- 
ship. They  bid  us  frequent  the  church, 
and  say  our  prayers,  and  bow  in  lowly 
reverence  before  the  altar:  we  cannot,  in- 
deed,^be  sure  that  any  God  is  there ;  but 
the  sweet  and  gracious  exercises  of  devo- 
-j-  tion  will  do  us  ^ood  in  any^case,jwill  uplift 
and  purify  our  souls  with  holy  visions. 

On  the  other  side  are  the  moralists,  who 
hold  that  the  first  necessity  is  a  righteous 
and  charitable  life.  They  say  :  "  Suppose 
God.  Suppose  that  this  is  His  law.  You 
cannot  be  absolutely  certain  about  it,  but 
you  can  suppose  it.  Now  set  yourself  to 
live  according  to  this  law.  Be  upright, 
honest,  kind,  and  you  will  find  that  in  the 
keeping  of  it  there  is  great  reward." 

Now  it  is  undoubtedly  ver}^  easy  for  us 
to  fall  into  one  or  the  other  of  these  out- 
ward semblances  of  religion,  and  persuade 
ourselves  that  it  is  sufficient.     How  much 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  19 

easier  to    repeat  prayers  and  sing  hymns 

than  really  to  wrestle  in  the  darkness  with 

that  mysterious  Power  who  must  be  either  \ 

our  Saviour  or  our  Destroyer  !     How  much    I         ^ 

easier  to  conform  to  a  fixed  and  partial  rule    ^ 

of  conduct,  to  observe  times  and  seasons; 

to   give   regularly   to  certain   charities,  to 

avoid  gross  vices  and  outbreaking  sins,  than 

really  to  bring  the  sacrifice  of  the  whole 

heart  to  the  living  God  and  bind  ourselves 

to  follow   the   living  Christ  whithersoever 

He  may  lead  us  ! 

Easier,  —  aye,  but  is  it  better  ?  Is  there 
any  reality  in  these  forms,  to  satisfy  the 
heart  ?  Are  they  not  vain  and  hollow  and 
worthless?  Do  they  not  mock  our  hunger, 
giving  us  a  stone  when  we  ask  for  bread  ? 
Do  they  not  verily  hinder  and  delude  us, 
with  their  false  and  paltry  promises,  from 
that  which  alone  can  deeply  satisfy  us  ? 
For  if  there  be  anything  higher  and  bet- 
ter for  us,  if  there  be  any  Father's  house 
with  its  divine  love  and  real  communion, 
then  surely  every  day,  every  hour,  spent 
among  the  husks  is  a  waste  and  a  sin,  —  a 


20  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

sin  against  Him  who  is  yearning  to  receive 
us  into  His  fellowship,  —  a  sin  against  our 
own  souls,  which  can  never  be  contented 
with  the  forms,  but  only  with  the  reality,  of 
religion. 

III.  There  is  an  absolute  spiritual  neces- 
sity in  man's  heart  demandhig  that  which 
is  real,  to  feed  its  deepest  cravings.  Noth- 
ing less  will  answer.  A  dream,  a  make- 
shift, an  h^^pothesis,  a  theory  is  not  enough. 
It  is  powerless  to  create  either  a  genuine 
morality  or  a  sincere  worship.  "  For  we 
can  no  more  obey  or  adore  that  which  we 
suspect  to  be  the  mere  creation  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  than  we  can  knowingly  adore  or 
obey  the  carved  and  painted  workmanship 
of  human  hands."  Take  away  reality  and 
what  is  left  but  an  idol  ? 

Look  at  the  case  fairly.  I  come  to  you 
asking  for  that  which  shall  guide  me  into 
a  right  and  holy  life.  You  present  me 
with  the  Bible.  You  say :  "  Take  this 
book.  It  may  not  be  altogether  true.  It 
may  not  have  any  divine  authority  behind 
it.    It  may  be  largely,  perhaps  entirely,  the 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  21 

work  of  men  like  yourself.  But  take  it, 
and  follow  it,  and  you  shall  pass  in  safety 
through  the  perilous  waters  of  the  sea  of 
life." 

Do  you  not  see  that  you  have  denied  my 
request,  while  seeming  to  grant  it?  Do 
you  not  see  that  you  have  taken  away  the 
only  thing  which  could  give  your  religion 
any  value,  or  any  power  over  my  life  ?  For 
surely  I  cannot  be  content  to  steer  my 
course  by  a  possible  falsehood ;  to  follow  ^ 
blindly  a  thread  which  may  lead  me  any- 
where or  nowhere.  I  demand  some  assur- 
ance better  than  your  guess,  some  reality, 
something  substantial  and  palpable.  "  I 
had  rather  be  wrecked  against  one  really 
discovered  rock ;  I  had  rather  founder  in 
the  attempt  to  sound  my  own  '  dim  and 
perilous  way,'  than  be  constantly  obejdng 
directions  which  are  a  mere  accommodation 
to  my  ignorance,  and  which  will  leave  me 
in  the  end  utterly  without  knowledge  of  the 
real  world  in  which  I  live."  More  than 
this  we  must  have.  We  want  a  divine  law, 
a  word  of  God,  saying  to  us  :   This  is  rights 


22  TUE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

now  and  forever ;  this  do  and  thou  shalt 
live.  We  want  a  Divine  Example,  a  living 
and  eternal  Righteousness,  to  which  we 
can  look  up  and  aspire.  We  want  a  true 
light;  not  a  glimmering  will-o'-the-wisp, 
but  a  fixed  and  shining  star,  by  which  we 
can  direct  our  way  in  safety  and  in  confi- 
dence. 

Or  again,  I  come  to  you  with  my  soul  full 
of  penitence  and  hope  and  great  desire, 
longing  to  worship.  You  say  to  me  :  *'  Well, 
you  shall  be  satisfied.  Here  is  a  temple. 
Here  are  songs  of  praise  and  forms  of 
prayer.  Here  are  ideas  and  symbols  of 
the  Divine,  a  priest  and  multitudes  of  wor- 
shippers. Bow  down  and  join  in  adoration. 
What  more  can  you  desire  ?  " 

What  more  can  I  desire  ?     My  Grod. 

He  who  made  me,  and  made  me  for  Him- 
self :  He  who  alone  is  perfect  and  eternal, 
alone  worthy  to  be  worshipped  :  He  who 
as  a  dream  is  nothing  to  me,  as  a  reality 
everything,  —  He  it  is  whom  I  seek.  And 
until  I  find  Him  there  is  no  rest.  Into  His 
presence   I    must    come.     His  glory  must 


A  REAL  RELIGION  NECESSARY.  23 

shine  upon  ray  soul.  Not  the  light  of  your 
sacred  candle  and  holy  lamps,  but  the  light 
of  His  face :  not  the  theories  of  His  good- 
ness and  the  ideas  of  His  mercy,  but  His 
living  love  must  flow  into  my  heart.  I 
must  know  that  He  is,  and  that  He  is  the 
rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  Him. 
Then  His  law  will  bind  me  ;  Sis  goodness 
will  comfort  me  ;  His  grace  will  bless  me. 
Then  faith  and  penitence  and  'prayer  and 
worship  will  satisfy  me  ;  for  then,  and  only 
then,  they  will  be  the  supreme  realities  of 
my  life. 


II. 

THE  LIVING  GOD. 


II. 

Acts  xiv.  15.     The  living  God. 

Is  God  real? 

This  is  the  question  of  the  ages. 
^T  Four  philosophers  are  discussing  it  to- 
gether. The  first  saj^s,  "  There  is  no  God." 
This  is  the  atheist,  whose  folly  has  been  con- 
demned alike  by  inspired  Scripture  and  by 
modern  science. 

The  second  says,  "  I  cannot  tell  whether 
there  is  a  God  or  not,  and  therefore  I  do 
not  think  about  it."  This  is  the  agnostic, 
who  makes  his  doubts  the  limit  of  his 
knowledge,  and  exalts  the  confession  of_ 
short  -  sightedness  into  the^  first  of  the 
X      virtues. 

The  third  says,  "  I  cannot  be  sure  that 
God  is,  nor  what  He  is ;  but  I  think  He  is 
thus  and  so,  and  I  act  upon  this  supposi- 
tion."    This  is  the  man  who  is  willing  to 


K 


28  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

go  beyond  what  he  sees,  who  loves  his  hopes 
so  much  that  he  treats  them  as  if  they  were 
facts,  who  is  content  with  probabilities  and 
tarns  them  to  the  regulation  of  his  practical 
life. 

The  fourth  says,  "  God  is.  I  know  Him." 
This  is  the  apostle  of  religion,  who  declares 
unto  us  that  which  he  has  heard,  that  which 
he  has  seen  with  his  eyes,  that  which  he 
has  looked  upon  and  his  hands  have  handled 
of  the  word  of  life:  that  God  is  light, — 
manifest,  actual,  real,  as  the  sun  in  heaven. 

I  need  not  waste  time  in  proving  that 
this  last  man  is  the  only  one  of  the  four 
who  has  the  Bible  on  his  side,  for  surely  if 
anything  is  plain  in  regard  to  this  book  it 
is  this :  that  it  teaches  the  existence  of  a 
living  and  personal  Deity,  who  may  be 
really  known  by  His  creatures.  But  we  can- 
not pause  here.  We  must  go  back  of  this. 
We  have  to  ask  which  of  these  four  phi- 
losophers has  the  facts  on  his  side ;  which 
of  them  is  resting,  not  on  illusions  and 
dreams,  but  on  the  solid  ground  of  re- 
ality. 


THE  LIVING   GOD.  29 

In  regard  to  the  first  of  these  four  men, 
■we  see  that  he  stands  alone ;  and  there  is 
probably  no  danger  that  any  of  us  will  be 
inclined  to  stand  with  him,  for  he  is  in 
the  difficult  position  of_having  to  prove  a 
positive  by  negatives.  Admitting  that  all 
arguments  for  the  existence  of  God  are 
failures,  the  atheist  must  go  beyond  this, 
and  bring  facts  to  show  that  God  is  impos-  ^ 
sible.  He  must  sweep  the  universe  from 
enTtb  end,  and  show  that  it  is  empty.  He 
must  prove,  not  only  that  an  effect  may  ex- 
ist without  a  cause,  but  also  that  the  sum 
of  all  effects  cannot  possibly  have  had  a 
cause,  and  that  nowhere  in  heaven  or  earth 
is  there  a  lurking-place  in  which  an  un- 
explained and  primal  power  can  dwell. 
With  this  task  we  may  leave  him,  like  a 
foolish  builder  trying  to  reach  the  skies 
with  a  tower  of  brick,  and  pass  on  to  the 
other  and  wiser  men. 

We  observe  at  once  that  the  second  and 
third  stand  together  in  theory,  though  they 
differ  in  practice.  They  are  both  professors 
of  ignorance.    They  admit  the  idea  of  God, 


30  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

but  they  cannot  discover  the  reality.  There- 
fore the  second  says  that  he  will  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  it.  He  has  no  need  of  it, 
and  can  get  nothing  from  it  save  perplexity 
and  humiliation.  But  the  third  declares 
it  is  so  bright  and  beautiful  that  he  will 
worship  it  and  make  it  the  guide  of  his  life. 
So  they  part  company,  and  the  former  be- 
comes a  famous  teacher  of  science,  and  the 
latter  a  popular  preacher  of  Christianity. 

Now,  in  regard  to  their  common  view, 
one  thing,  it  seems  to  me,  is  clear.  It  is  at 
bottom  unreasonable.  For  if  there  were 
surely  no  God  at  all,  then  it  would  be  nat- 
urally impossible  for  us  to  find  traces  of 
Him.  But  the  very  possibility  of  God,  the 
may-be  of  His  existence,  carries  with  it  the 
necessity  of  some  kind  of  manifestation. 
If  He  is  in  the  universe,  it  cannot  be  as  a 
mere  abstraction  or  impotent  idea ;  there 
must  be  evidences  of  His  being  and  power. 
In  other  words,  the  very  idea  of  God  re- 
quires reality  for  its  perfection ;  and  this 
truth  has  been  developed  by  philosophers 
of  highest  standing  into  what  is  called  the 


THE  LIVING  GOD.  31 

ontological   argument  for  the   existence  of 
God. 

We  have,  therefore,  an  antecedent  prob- 
ability in  favor  of  the  fourth  view ;  and  he 
who  declares  that  God  is  real  and  can  be 
known  has,  at  the  very  outset,  a  kind  of 
reasonable  supposition  on  his  side.  But 
certainly  this  is  far  from  being  complete 
and  satisfactory.  It  is  far  from  being 
enough  for  our  present  purpose;  for  we 
have  agreed  to  make  our  appeal  to  facts. 
We  are  not  dealing  with  abstract  arguments 
and  rational  probabilities ;  we  are  search- 
ing for  an  actual  and  concrete  reality. 
Evidence,  contact,  experience,  —  this  is  the 
sphere  in  which  we  are  moving.  It  is  the 
sphere  of  our  every-day  life,  our  practical 
discoveries,  our  human  emotions.  And  here, 
Isay,  in  this  very  sphere  of  realitYj_we_dQ^ 
not  see  lig^ht,  we  do  not  know  gravitation, 
we  do  not  feel  love,  one  whit  more^eally 
than  we  experience  the  living  God. 

It  is  not  an  argument ;  it  is  not  a  theory  ; 
it  is  not  a  leap  from  the  region  of  the  known 
into  the  region  of  the  unknown  ;  it  is  not 


^ 


32  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

the  supreme  conclusion  of  a  special  and 
unquestionable  religious  faculty.  But  to 
man  as  man,  in  the  best  exercise  of  the 
faculties  which  are  joined  in  the  unity  of 
his  personality,  the  living  Divine  Being  is 
manifest^  as  a  physical  reality,  as  a  moral 
reality,  as  an  historical  reality,  as  a  spirit- 
ual reality. 

I.  The  world  is  full  of  God.  He  is  im- 
manent in  the  universe.  Lift  up  your  eyes, 
stretch  out  your  hands.  He  is  near  you,  on 
every  side  of  you.  You  touch  not  His  sub- 
stance, for  that  is  intangible,  but  the  force 
that  flows  from  Him.  You  see,  not  His 
face,  for  that  is  invisible,  but  the  glory 
that  clothes  and  hides  His  presence.  He 
is  here  as  really  and  truly  as  the  light,  the 
gravity,  the  electricity  which_fill  this  room 
"^  though  you  cannot  see  them.  Do  you  ques- 
tion their  reality  ?  They  are  formless,  they 
are  invisible,  they  are  actually  unknown  to 
millions  of  mankind  who  ignorantly  expe- 
rience their  effects  without  seeking  or  dis- 
covering their  real  nature ;  but  you  are 
sure  of  them  ;  you  know  them ;  they  are 


THE  LIVING   GOD.  33 

manifested  to  you  by  their  workings.  So 
God  is  manifested  in  the  world. 

We  may  say  that  there  are  three  forms 
in  which  this  manifestation  comes  to  us,  — 
three  forms  under  which  we  may  inchide 
all  appearances  and  relations  of  material 
things,  —  three  great  realities,  in  each  of 
which  the  living  soul  is  God.  Power,  wis- 
dom, beauty  —  in  these  three  forms  we  ex- 
perience God. 

Look  at  these  mighty  forces  which  per- 
meate and  encircle  our  globe,  binding  earth 
and  rocks  into  a  solid  mass,  hurrying  waves 
of  the  sea  and  currents  of  rivers  in  their 
swift  flow,  submerging  islands  and  upheav- 
ing continents,  driving  the  clouds  in  flocks 
and  armies,  sending  forth  arrows  of  light- 
nings, marshalling  the  stars  in  their  jour- 
neying hosts.  Do  not  all  these  tell  us  of  a 
living  spring  and  fountain  of  force  ?  Exalt 
their  power  and  order  as  you  will ;  define 
their  nature  ;  trace  their  method  and  re- 
lations; show  how  they  play  one  into 
another;  bind  them  all  together  into  a 
coordinated  system.    Still  they  must  have  a 

3 


84  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

source.  Still  they  bear  witness  to  a  Power 
unknown  ;  nay,  to  a  Power  known,  in  and 
through  them,  since  they  flow  from  Him. 
/  The  heathen  of  old  saw  in  a  lightning 
flash  a  thunderbolt  hurled  by  the  hand  of 
Jupiter,  and  trembled.  We  call  it  an  ef- 
fect of  electricity.  But  what  is  electricity 
but  an  effluence  of  an  Almighty  Will  ? 
And  do  we  not  still  tremble  when  the 
bright  shaft  leaps  from  the  black  quiver  of 
cloud,  and  the  rattling  thunder  tells  of  an 
oak  riven  or  a  house  shattered  ?  Aye,  in  the 
presence  of  great  power,  —  earth-shaking, 
heaven-riving,  death-dealing,  life-unfolding 
forces,  before  which  we  are  as  insects  blown 
on  the  summer  wind,  we  tremble  and  bow 
down,  for  our  heart  tells  us  that  a  Greater 
than  man  is  here. 

But  consider,  again,  how  wonderfully  these 
great  forces,  and  the  material  substances 
which  they  are  incessantly  moving  and 
changing,  are  adapted  to  the  production  of 
"S-  certain  definite  and  desirable  results.  Men 
may  den}^  that  the  term  design  is  properly 
applicable  to  the  processes  of  nature.    They 


THE  LIVING   GOD.  35 

may  say  that  we  have  no  right  to  reason 
with  Paley  from  the  analogy  of  a  watch 
and  a  watch-maker  to  a  world  and  a  world- 
maker.  But  whether  this  be  true  or  not, 
I  think  no  intelligent  person  can  fail  to  see 
in  the  universe  that  which  in  any  human 
production  we  should  call  wisdom^  though 
on  a  scale  so  much  more  vast,  and  of  a 
quality  so  much  higher  and  more  perfect 
than  our  own,  that  we  can  never  hope  to 
rival  it,  but  only  wonder  and  adore.  How 
intricate  and  majestic  is  the  combination  of 
forces  which  keeps  the  heavens  balanced 
and  in  order,  steadies  the  spinning  globe 
on  its  axis  and  guides  it  on  its  appointed 
orbit,  ensuring  the  beneficent  returns  of  day 
and  night,  winter  and  summer,  seed-time 
and  harvest.  How  skilful  and  exact  is  the 
construction  of  the  eye,  framed  expressly 
to  receive  the  beating  waves  of  light,  and, 
without  changing  its  place,  capable  of  con- 
veying to  the  brain  the  image  of  a  flower  in 
the  hand  or  a  star  in  the  sky.  How  won- 
derful and  admirable  is  even  such  a  trifle  as 
a  sea-shell  found  on  the  shore :  — 


36  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

"  Frail,  but  a  work  diviue, 
Made  so  fairily  well, 
With  delicate  spire  and  whorl, 
A  miracle  of  design,  — 
Slight;  to  be  crushed  with  a  tap 
Of  my  finger-nail  on  the  sand,  — 
Frail,  but  of  force  to  withstand, 
Year  upon  year,  the  shock 
Of  cataract  seas  that  snap 
The  three-decker's  oaken  spine 
Athwart  the  ledges  of  rock." 

Surely  when  we   behold   these   things  we 
know  that  a  Wiser  than  man  is  here. 

And  then,  the  beauty  of  it  all !  the 
^  strange  and  mystic  splendor  that  gleams 
from  the  face  of  the  world,  filling  our  hearts 
with  gladness  and  with  worship  !  Whence 
is  this  derived  ?  If  the  universe  were  but 
a  vast  machine,  as  some  would  teach  us  to 
believe,  —  a  lifeless  thing  of  forces  and  sub- 
stances, wheels  and  cogs  and  bands  playing 
into  each  other  and  producing  mechanically 
certain  fixed  results,  —  what  power  could  it 
have  to  touch  our  spirits?  Why  should 
our  hearts  leap  up  when  we  behold  a  rain- 
bow in  the  sky  ?  It  is  but  the  refraction 
of   certain    rays  of   light  in   certain  drops 


TEE  LIVING  GOD.  37 

of  water.  An  orchard  in  the  spring-time, 
covered  with  its  rosy  snow  of  blossoms ;  a 
field  of  golden  grain  waving  in  the  soft 
wind  of  summer ;  a  grape-vine  with  its 
trailing  branches,  and  dark,  rich  clusters  of 
fruit  hanging  motionless  in  the  still  autum- 
nal air;  a  winter  forest  with  its  smooth 
white  carpet,  and  its  net-work  of  crystal 
boughs  and  glittering  pendants  of  ice  shining 
overhead,  —  these  are  but  chemical  effects, 
the  natural  results  of  the  changes  of  the 
seasons.  Why  should  they  be  so  lovely  ? 
Surely  the  grain,  the  fruit,  the  snow,  could 
have  been  produced  just  as  well  without 
beauty.  Why  is  it  that  they  touch  and 
thrill  and  uplift  the  soul  ?  What  is  the 
meaning  and  the  spiritual  presence  of  which 
they  speak  to  us  ?  Who  has  informed  them 
with  this  gracious  splendor?  Let  the  an- 
swer come  in  the  magnificent  words  of  the 
poet's  Hymn  at  Sunrise  in  the  Valley  of 
Chamouni :  — 

"  Ye  ice-falls !  ye  that  from  the  mountain's  brow 
Adown  enormous  ravines  slope  amain,  — 
Who  made  you  glorious  as  the  gates  of  Heaven 


38  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

Beneath  the  keen,  full  moon  ?     Who  bade  the  sun 
Clothe  you  with  rainbows  1    Who  with  living  flowers 
Of  loveliest  blue  spread  garlands  at  your  feet  1 
God  !  let  the  torrents  like  a  shout  of  nations 
Answer  !  and  let  the  ice-plains  echo,  God  ! 
God  !  sing  ye  meadow-streams  with  gladsome  voice, — 
Ye  pine-groves  with  your  soft  and  soul-like  sounds  ! 
And  they  too  have  a  voice,  yon  piles  of  snow, 
And  in  their  perilous  fall  shall  thunder,  God  !  " 

Yea  !  He  it  is  whose  presence  makes  the 
world  alive  with  beauty :  He  it  is  whose 
vision  thrills  us  when  we  know  it  not.  His 
smile  brightens  the  outgoings  of  the  morn- 
ing :  His  voice  sounds  from  the  murmuring 
forest  and  the  rushing  cataract  and  the  loud- 
roaring,  multitudinous  ocean  billows :  His 
garments  of  glory  gleam  before  us  in  the 
lingering  hues  of  sunset.  In  every  form  of 
beauty  and  scene  of  splendor  we  behold  the 
presence  of  God.  And  this  presence,  we 
sa}^  is  a  reality :  it  exists  for  us  as  truly  as 
the  light  which  enables  us  to  see,  or  the 
heat  which  enables  us  to  live.  Power,  wis- 
dom, beauty, —  these  are  no  dreams,  but  the 
actual  manifestations,  in  the  physical  world, 
of  the  living  God. 


THE  LIVING   GOD.  39 

II.  In  the  moral  world  we  touch  Him 
yet  more  closely :  He  reveals  Himself  to  us 
as  a  person :  He  puts  His  hand  upon  us 
and  we  feel  His  power. 

Here,  we  are  standing  in  another  world 
from  that  which  is  known  to  our  senses. 
Absolutely  and  totally  different  from  the 
feelings  of  awe,  wonder,  or  delight  at  the 
things  which  are  seen  and  heard  and  han- 
dled, is  the  sentiment  of  moral  obligation, 
the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong, 
the  voluntary  movement  of  the  soul  under 
the  laws  of  good  and  evil.  No  external 
force,  no  law  of  nature,  no  command  of  ^7^ 
man  can  create~tliat  which  we  call  didyj 
and  yet  it  is  a  reality,  which  we  cannot 
question  or  change.  It  presses  upon  us 
more  closely  and  resistlessly  than  any  other 
power.  It  cannot  be  escaped  or  evaded. 
It  follows  us,  seizes  us,  binds  us.  The  con- 
sciousness that  among  the  paths  which 
are  open  to  my  choice  there  is  one  that 
I  ought  to  follow  and  one  that  I  ouglit  to 
avoid,  that  among  the  actions  of  my  life 
there  are  those  that  are  right  aiid  those  that 


40     THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

are  wrong,  the  sense  of  obligation,  the  voice 
of  conscience  crying  in  the  secret  place 
"Thou  shalt  not  do  this  thing,  for  it  is  evil," 
or  "  Thou  shalt  do  this,  for  it  is  good,"  — 
nothing  in  the  universe  is  more  real  to  me 
than  this,  and  in  this  I  touch  God. 

He  it  is  that  calls  me  and  commands  me 
and  binds  me.     He  it  is  that  reveals  to  me 

this  world  within  the  world,  and  summons 

■^      . . — — — -^ 

me  to  live  aright.  He  it  is  that  hath  "  be- 
set me  behind  and  before,  and  laid  His 
hand  upon  me."  "  Whither  shall  I  go  from 
His  presence  ?  If  I  climb  up  into  Heaven 
He  is  there  ;  if  I  go  down  into  Hell  He  is 
there  also."  The  universe  is  filled  with  His 
voice,  saying,  "  Thou  shalt,"  and  "  Thou 
shalt  not." 

But,  mark  you,  there  is  no  constraint  laid 
upon  me.  My  will  is  free.  I  can,  I  must, 
choose  for  myself  between  good  and  evil. 
And  here  is  the  wonder  of  it ;  here  is  the 
manifest  presence  of  the  living  God.  For 
if  the  moral  law  were  natural  and  imper- 
sonal, it  would  bind  us  resistlessly  as  gravity 
or  electricity,  as  the  thousand  forces  which 


THE  LIVING   GOD.  41 

move  us  Mther  and  thither  in  the  ordinary 
courses  of  our  lives  without  our  will.  But 
here,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  loftiest 
interests  of  our  being  are  at  stake,  at  the 
turning  where  the  fate  of  the  soul  must  be 
decided,  when  we  are  conscious  that  the 
issues  of  life  and  death  hang  in  the  balance 
of  our  action,  —  at  this  moment  the  com- 
pulsion is  withdrawn,  the  way  is  open,  the 
will  is  left  at  liberty  to  choose  the  right  or 
to  reject  it.  But  is  the  presence  of  Him 
who  has  revealed  to  us  the  difference  be- 
tween good  and  evil  withdrawn  ?  Nay, 
not  so ;  but  now  most  clearly  manifest  and 
felt ;  for  He  is  warning  us  as  a  Fatlier 
warns  his  child  ;  He  is  watching  us.  Bend- 
ing down  above  us  with  an  infinite  and 
tender  solicitude  He  waits  and  longs  to  see 
us  choose  the  good  and  reject  the  evil.  We 
feel  His  eye  upon  us.  "  Thou  God  seest 
me."  You  cannot  escape  it !  you  cannot 
deny  it!  This  trembling  of  your  soul  at 
the  thought  of  wrong,  this  drawing  of  your 
will  towards  the  right,  this  joy  of  your  heart 
in  the  consciousness  of  good,  —  this  is  the 


42  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION: 

sense  of  the  reality  of  God,  touching  you  in 
your  moral  life. 

III.  But  again,  we  find  God  in  the  world 
as  an  historical  reality.  Just  as  we  know  the 
reality  of  the  Persian,  or  the  Grecian,  or  the 
Roman  empires  by  their  records  on  stone 
or  parchment,  by  the  results  which  they 
have  accomplished  and  the  traces  which 
they  have  left  in  the  world,  so  we  know 
that  God  is  a  reality  by  the  records  and 
results  of  His  dealings  with  men.  In  the 
experience  of  mankind  His  will  is  the  chief 
factor ;  and  if  you  take  that  away,  if  you 
deny  all  traces  of  a  supreme,  overruling, 
beneficent  Providence  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
-J»-  the  history  of  the  world  becomes  an  inex- 
plicable and  monstrous  fable.  How  has  the 
race  been  preserved  in  numberless  perils 
and  advanced  through  incessant  difficulties; 
how  have  human  industry  and  knowledge 
and  character  been  unfolded  and  developed ; 
how,  amid  the  crash  of  falling  empires  and 
the  dust  of  ruined  civilization,  wars  and 
floods  and  earthquakes  and  revolutions,  have 
learning   and  virtue   been   kept   alive  and 


THE  LIVING  GOD.  43 

nurtured  and  increased,  and  the  happiness 
of  humanity  enlarged  year  by  year  and 
century  by  century ;  how  has  the  world 
been  guided  on  a  course  which,  with  all  its 
windings,  leads  surely  upward,  —  if  it  be 
not  by  the  indwelling  and  inworking  of 
an  almighty  and  allwise  Governor  ?  God  in 
history  is  a  reality. 

And  more  than  this,  we  have  the  actual 
record  of  His  special  dealings  with  certain 
men  and  nations,  —  records  which  cannot 
be  ignored  or  explained  away.  We  have 
no  reason  and  no  right  to  doubt  them.  The 
Bible  is  a  history,  —  a  history  of  men  and  of 
God.  As  the  traveller  passes  through  the 
rugged  defiles  of  Sinai,  and  sees  the  inscrip- 
tions graven  upon  the  rocks,  he  says,  "  The 
Edomites,  the  Romans,  the  Arabs  have  been  ^7^ 
here."  So,  as  we  turn  the  pages  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  the  handwriting  of  divine  power 
and  wisdom  tells  us  that  God  has  been  here. 
He  has  revealed  Himself  to  Abraham  and 
Moses,  Elijah  and  David.  He  has  mani- 
fested His  omnipotence  in  the  deliverance 
and  preservation  and  guidance  of  His  chosen 


44  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGIOlSr. 

people  Israel.  Above  all,  He  has  sliined 
forth  clearly  in  the  person  and  life  of  Jesus 
Christ.  This  supreme  and  abiding  person- 
ality, evidently  superhuman,  standing  all 
the  tests  of  criticism,  refusing  to  be  resolved 
into  a  myth  or  a  dream,  the  most  potent 
and  permanent  figure  in  all  history,  —  this 
divine-human  Master  and  Saviour  of  men, 
real  and  living  through  all  the  ages,  —  is  to 
us  the  unshaken  evidence  of  the  reality  of 
God.  When  we  see  Him  we  see  the  Fa- 
ther, for  He  and  the  Father  are  one. 

IV.  But  one  more  realm  remains  for  us 
to  explore :  but  one  more  region  of  human 
life  in  which  we  must  feel  after  God  if 
haply  we  may  find  Him.  And  here,  indeed, 
He  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us.  In  the 
spiritual  life,  the  deep  and  secret  exercise  of 
the  soul's  highest  powers,  the  life  of  faith 
and  hope  and  love  and  prayer,  we  meet  and 
touch  the  living  God.  No  mere  vision  of 
distempered  sleep  was  that  strange  and 
awful  experience  of  the  patriarch  Jacob, 
by  the  ford  of  Jabbok's  stream.  It  was  a 
reality ;   the  contact  of   the  human  spirit 


TEE  LIVING  GOD.  45 

witli  the  Divine ;  the  wrestling  of  the  hu- 
man soul  with  God,  so  real  and  close  that 
it  leaves  its  marks  upon  the  body  and  the 
mind  forever.  Yes,  He  does  come  to  us 
and  lay  hold  of  us ;  He  does  speak  to  us 
and  answer  us,  —  this  unseen,  eternal,  liv- 
ing One,  before  whose  presence  our  hearts 
tremble  and  adore.  In  the  dark,  silent 
hours  of  the  night,  in  the  glaring  noonday, 
in  the  crowded  assembly  of  worshippers,  in 
the  solitude  of  our  chambers.  He  is  with  us 
and  we  feel  Him.  When  the  tide  of  peni- 
tence sweeps  over  the  soul,  and  we  are 
humbled  in  the  dust  crying  for  pardon,  have 
we  not  felt  the  touch  of  His  forgiving  hand 
laid  upon  us  in  secret  ?  Have  we  not  cast 
ourselves  in  faith  upon  Him  whom  we  see 
not,  as  one  who  leaps  into  the  darkness, 
and  found  our  Father's  everlasting:  arms 
encircling,  embracing,  bearing  us  up  ?  Have 
we  not  pleaded  with  Him  in  prayer,  and 
known  of  a  surety  that  He  hears  us,  be- 
cause the  answer  has  come  into  our  hearts? 
Have  we  not  sought  guidance  and  found  it, 
and  cried  for  help  and  received  it  ?     Have 


46      THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION, 

we  not  held  communion  -with  Him  in  se- 
cret, and  felt  tlie  influences  of  His  spirit 
moving  with  sweet  and  sacred  compulsion 
upon  our  own  ?  Who  is  it  that  has  delivered 
our  souls  in  great  temptation,  —  and  for- 
given our  sins  in  the  midst  of  our  anguish, 
—  and  spoken  peace  to  the  storm  that  swept 
our  bosoms,  —  and  wiped  away  the  tears 
from  our  eyes  in  the  deepest  sorrow?  God! 
our  God  ! 

O  tell  me  that  this  most  vast  and  excel- 
lent universe  is  an  airy  vision,  that  all 
things  seen  and  heard  are  a  delusion,  that 
life  itself  is  but  a  dream,  —  but  never  tell 
me  that  God  is  not  real !  For  the  one 
reality  beyond  all  doubt  is  He  who  pardons 
my  sins  and  upholds  my  spirit,  comforts 
my  grief  and  lights  the  star  of  my  hope,  — 
He  in  whom  I  live  and  move  and  have  my 
being,  —  the  living  and  true  God. 


III. 

THE  LIVING  SOUL. 


III. 

Genesis  ii.  7.    And  man  became  a  living  sou h 

God  being  a  reality,  what  are  we  who 
know  Him  ? 

Realities,  doubtless,  for  the  man  never 
lived  who  could  honestly  question  his  own 
existence.  But  of  what  nature  ?  Are  we 
mirrors  of  sensation,  reflecting  passively  the 
gleams  of  the  Divine  glory ;  strings  of  an 
-^olian  harp  vibrating  beneath  the  efflu- 
ences of  Divine  power ;  cunningly  devised 
mechanisms  of  bone  and  blood,  muscle  and 
nerve?  or  are  we  something  more?  God 
is  a  spirit.  This  we  know.  But  what  is 
man? 

If  we  refer  this  question  directly  to  the 
Bible,  the  answer  is  plain,  straightforward, 
and  immediate.  Man  is  a  living  soul, 
brought  into  existence  by  the  inbreathing 
of  the  Divine  life  and  inhabiting  a  body 
4 


50  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

framed  by  the  Divine  wisdom  and  power. 
He  is  a  spiritual  creature,  with  supersensual 
powers,  rehited  most  intimately  to  God,  and 
by  virtue  of  that  relation  destined  to  an 
everlasting  existence.  He  dwells  in  the 
material  universe  ;  he  is  bound  to  a  physical 
organism,  by  means  of  which  his  sensations 
are  received  and  his  volitions  exercised  ;  he 
is  subjected,  thus  far,  to  the  laws  of  matter 
and  force  ;  but  he  himself  is  not  to  be 
identified  with  the  things  which  are  seen 
and  heard  and  felt ;  he  is  of  another  sub- 
stance ;  his  life  is  independent  and  inde- 
structible ;  he  is  an  immortal  spirit.  Thus 
the  Bible  teaches ;  and  we  who  believe 
that  the  Bible  is  an  inspired  book,  accept 
this  teaching  and  rest  upon  it  with  an  im- 
plicit faith. 

There  is  a  substantial  reality  in  this  doc- 
trine, and  we  do  not  by  any  means  consent 
to  abandon  it,  or  set  it  aside  as  insufficient. 
It  is  the  reality  of  a  well-attested  and  un- 
shaken revelation.  But  we  are  seeking  now 
for  something  more  than  this.  We  are  look- 
ing for  the  confirmation  of  this  truth,  which 


TEE  LIVING  SOUL.  51 

is  revealed  to  us  on  such  high  authority,  in 
human  nature  and  experience.  We  are 
questioning  man  himself,  as  he  actually 
exists  in  the  world,  —  a  living,  sentient,  in- 
telligent being  ;  and  we  demand  an  answer 
in  accord  with  the  facts  as  they  are  found 
in  the  consciousness  of  every  one  of  us,  an 
answer  which  shall  bring  us  face  to  face 
with  the  clear  and  indubitable  reality. 

I.  What  is  man  ?  A  famous  scientific  lec- 
turer recently  gave  a  striking  illustration 
of  his  view  of  this  question.  He  reduced 
a  human  body  by  chemical  analysis  to  its 
component  parts.  He  presented  to  his  au- 
dience twenty-three  pounds  of  carbon,  two 
pounds  of  lime,  twenty  -  two  ounces  o| 
phosphorus,  about  one  ounce  each  of  so- 
dium, iron,  potassium,  magnesium,  and  sili-« 
con ;  and  apologized  for  not  exhibiting  some 
five  thousand  cubic  feet  of  oxygen,  one 
hundred  thousand  cubic  feet  of  hydrogen, 
and  fifty -two  cubic  feet  of  nitrogen  gas. 
These  substances,  he  said,  were  what  went 
to  the  making  of  a  man. 

Is  that  all?     Do  you  believe  it?     This 


s. 


52  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

lecturer  doubtless  prided  himself  on  a  strict 
loyalty  to  the  facts ;  he  claimed  to  be  deal- 
ing with  the  reality  of  the  case.  But  he 
was  in  truth  most  disloyal  to  the  facts  ;  he 
was  in  truth  utterly  oblivious  of  the  great 
reality.  Such  an  experiment  as  this  is  for 
every  man  of  common  sense  an  instant  and 
absolute  refutation  of  materialism.  For 
where,  amid  this  mass  of  separated  solids 
and  this  cloud  of  volatile  gases,  shall  you 
find  the  distinctive  qualities  of  human  na- 
ture? Is  carbon  conscious?  Can  lime  suf- 
fer ?  Can  phosphorus  think  ?  You  may 
combine  them  as  you  will ;  you  may  arrange 
and  organize  them ;  you  may  permeate  them 
with  heat  and  thrill  them  with  electricity ; 
but  you  can  never  recall  the  man  who  once 
lived  and  thought,  suffered  and  loved,  felt 
and  willed  within  them.  lie  was  in  the 
body,  but  he  was  not  of  it.  When  the 
body  died,  he  escaped.  The  retort  could 
not  contain  him,  the  fire  could  not  burn 
him.  Somewhere  beyond  the  reach  of 
hands  and  eyes,  somewhere  in  this  universe 
in  which  nothing  can  ever  possibly  be  lost. 


THE  LIVING  SOUL.  53 

somewliere  above  the  realm  of  physical 
science,  the  man  exists.  The  chemical 
analysis  has  shown  us  what  he  is  not,  but 
it  has  not  even  touched  the  question  of  what 
he  is. 

We  must  turn  then  to  a  better  source  of 
information.  We  must  interrogate  a  living 
man.  We  must  ask  one  who  is  still  within 
reach  of  our  questioning,  and  whose  knowl- 
edge of  himself  can  still  be  communicated 
to  us,  "  What  are  you  ?  " 

1.  You  are  a  conscious  being.     You  per- 
ceive, you  feel,  you  know.    Andjaere,  in 
tjiisjact.Jhere  is  a  great  gulifixed  between^ 
you  and  the  material  world,  a  gulf  which  the 
greatest  men_of_science_say  is  impassable. 
No  vibrations  of  the  gray  substance  in  the 
brain,  no  theory  of  the  refinement  of  matter 
and  the  reflex  action  of  nerve-cells,  will  ex- 
plain the  difference  or  bridge  the  chasm  be- 
tween an  unconscious  stone  and  a  conscious 
man.     The  sensitive  plate  in  the  camera  is 
touched  and  changed  by  the  rays  of  light, 
and  a  picture  of   things  remains  upon   it. 
But  it  does  not  see  the  visions  which  fill 


54  THE  REALITY   OF  RELIGION. 

you  with  gladness.  The  grains  of  sand 
scattered  on  a  plate  of  steel  are  moved 
hither  and  thither,  and  arranged  in  beauti- 
ful curves  and  figures,  by  the  waves  of  sound. 
But  they  do  not  hear  the  immortal  music 
which  thrills  your  soul  with  vague  delight. 
They  do  not  and  they  cannot.  For  though 
they  are  sensitive  to  the  forces  which  sur- 
round them,  they  are  not  conscious,  they 
have  no  perception  and  no  emotion.  That 
is  to  say,  they  are  a  portion  of  the  material 
universe.  But  you  are  not  And  your 
consciousness  is  just  the  sense  of  the  chasm 
which  divides  you  from  all  things  created. 

You  sit  apart  as  a  spectator,  a  judge,  a 
lord.  Within  the  universe  which  encircles 
you,  within  the  house  which  shelters  you, 
within  the  body  which  contains  you,  your 
soul,  your  self,  abides  in  the  royal  conscious- 
ness of  personal  identity.  The  spectacle  of 
the  world  passes  before  you ;  you  behold,  you 
judge,  you  feel,  you  reason,  you  act.  It  is 
not  the  eye  which  perceives  :  it  is  you  look- 
ing through  it.  It  is  not  the  ear  which 
hears :  it  is  you^  sitting  behind  it.    It  is  not 


THE  LIVING  SOUL.  55 

the  hand  which  moves  :  it  is  you  who 
stretch  it  forth.  Never  for  an  instant, 
never  by  any  sophistry  of  reason,  or  trick 
of  logic,  can  you  lose  your  personal  identity, 
or  confuse  yourself  with  the  world  in  which 
you  live.  From  the  first  moment  of  in- 
telligence, you  are  separated  from  all  things 
tangible  and  visible.  You  are  yourself  a 
reality,  for  you  are  conscious  of  it. 

2.  You  are  a  free  being.  You  are  not 
subject  to  the  laws  which  bind  and  control 
the  material  universe.  Your  body  indeed 
is  within  the  sphere  of  their  dominion.  If 
you  reduce  its  temperature,  it  is  frozen.  If 
you  overheat  it,  it  is  burned.  But  you  can  ^ 
neither  be  burned  nor  frozen.  The  chains  ^ 
of  gravitation  which  bind  your  feet  to  the 
dull  earth  cannot  withhold  your  spirit  from 
the  stars.  Borne  on  the  swift  wings  of  im- 
agination, you  sweep  hither  and  thither  at 
your  will.  The  sunset  gates  open  before 
you.  The  translucent  depths  of  ocean  can- 
not exclude  your  thought.  You  command 
your  body,  and  it  bears  you  whither  you  de- 
sire to  go.    And  when  its  steps  are  hindered 


56  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION, 

and  its  progress  barred  by  some  great  ob- 
stacle, your  soul  goes  marclimg  on,  travel- 
ling in  the  greatness  of  its  strength.  You 
may  be  shut  up  in  the  darkness  of  a  loath- 
some dungeon,  but  you  cry,  — 

"  Stone  walls  do  not  a  prison  make, 
Nor  iron  bars  a  cage/' 

You  are  still  free ;  for  there  is  in  you  a 
power  of  will  which  no  mortal  force  can 
shake  or  compel.  The  lightning  may  flash 
above  you,  the  earthquake  roll  beneath  you, 
the  terrors  of  natural  convulsions  and  the 
threatenings  of  human  wrath  may  surround 
you.  Men  may  torture  you  and  give  your 
body  to  be  burned.  But  your  will  is  un- 
touched. You  may  choose,  and  none  can 
change  you.  Ay!  when  the  slightest  and 
feeblest  child  of  man  has  said,  "  livill  not^''' 
he  has  asserted  a  power  which  the  weight 
of  the  whole  world  can  never  break. 

Whence  does  this  power  come  ?  Can  it 
be  the  product  of  carbon  and  phosphorus, 
oxygen  and  hydrogen  ?  Incredible  !  It  is 
the  direct   evidence  that  you  belong  to   a 


THE  LIVING  SOUL.  57 

higlier  order  than  tlie  world  which  you  can 
thus  defy  and  conquer.  It  is  the  manifest 
strength  of  your  living  soul. 

3.  You  are  a  moral  being.  Emancipated 
from  the  laws  of  matter  and  force,  you  are 
subject  to  the  laws  of  spirit.  Your  inward 
life,  your  happiness,  your  welfare,  depend 
upon  your  moral  actions  and  relations. 

I  do  not  mean  by  this,  merely  that  a  man 
ought  to  have  regard  to  the  laws  of  right 
and  wrong,  and  that  if  he  despises  and 
transgresses  them  he  will  inevitably  be 
punished  ;  although  this  is  certainly  true  : 
but  I  mean  to  say  now,  that  the  real  life  of 
every  man  lies  not  in  the  realm  of  the  visi- 
ble, but  in  the  realm  of  the  invisible.  Here 
are  the  wants  which  govern  him,  the  ties 
which  bind  him,  the  laws  which  he  may 
defy,  but  which  he  can  never  shake  off. 
Here  is  the  true  sphere  of  his  activity,  — 
in  knowledge,  and  love,  and  hope,  and 
righteousness,  —  and  here  alone  he  can  find 
success  and  satisfaction. 

Do  you  need  the  proof  of  this  ?  Do  you 
need  the  evidence  that  man  belongs  to  a 


~^ 


58  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

different  order  of  beings  from  stones  and 
trees  and  dumb  animals  ?  Look  into  your 
own  heart  and  find  it.  You  are  conscious 
of  liiglier  thoughts  and  feelings,  ranging 
infinitely  above  these  things  which  perish  in 
the  using.  You  are  filled  with  desires  and 
longings  which  can  never  be  satisfied  with 
the  food  of  the  senses.  You  are  bound  by 
moral  relations  and  responsibilities  which 
can  never  be  reduced  to  terms  of  chemistry 
or  physics. 

I  have  seen  a  man  whose  bodily  wants 
were  completely  gratified,  well-fed,  well- 
clothed,  well-housed,  — 

"  In  glowing  health,  with  boundless  wealth, 
Yet  sickening  of  a  vague  disease,"  — 

restless,  feverish,  discontented,  unhappy. 
Why  was  he  not  at  peace?  Because  he 
had  a  conscience  which  was  tormented  with 
remorse,  because  he  had  a  heart  which  was 
empty  of  love,  because  he  had  a  living  soul 
which  was  starving  to  death. 

I  have  seen  a  poor  child  lying  on  a  bed 
of  pain  and  sickness,  pining  away  her  life 


TEE  LIVING  SOUL.  59 

within  the  narrow  walls  of  a  comfortless 
room,  in  want  and  weakness  and  distress, 
and  yet  her  days  were  filled  with  quiet 
happiness,  and  the  light  of  a  great  glad- 
ness rested  tenderly  upon  her  wasted  face.  >^ 
What  was  the  secret  of  her  joyful  content- 
ment? She  had  a  conscience  which  was  at 
peace  with  God,  she  had  a  heart  full  of  love, 
she  had  a  living  soul  which  was  satisfied 
and  overflowing  with  the  Divine  Grace. 

Tell  me  not  that  this  life  of  ours  is  a 
mere  play  of  electric  forces  within  a  per- 
ishable form  of  earth.  Tell  me  not  that 
eating  and  drinking  and  sleeping  are  the 
realities  of  our  existence,  and  all  else  is 
but  dream  and  delusion. 

"  I  know  we  are  not  wholly  brain, 
Magnetic  mockeries :  not  in  vain 
Like  Paul,  with  beasts,  I  've  fought  with  Death ; 

*'  Not  only  cunning  casts  in  clay ; 

Let  Science  prove  we  are,  and  then 
What  matters  Science  unto  men, 
At  least  to  me  1     I  would  not  stay. 

"  Let  him  the  wiser  man  who  springs 
Hereafter,  up  from  childhood  shape 
His  action  like  the  greater  ape, 
But  I  was  born  to  other  things." 


60     THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

Yes,  by  the  powers  that  rise  within  me  and 
spread  their  spiritual  wings  for  flight  be- 
yond the  bounds  of  sense,  and  by  the  yearn- 
ings which  meat  and  drink  can  never  still, 
the  outreachings  of  the  heart  for  truth  and 
love,  — 

**  the  obstinate  questionings 
Of  sense  and  outward  things, 
Fallings  from  us,  vauishings, 
Blank  misgivings  of  a  creature 
Moving  about  in  worlds  not  realized. 
High  instincts  before  which  our  guilty  nature 
Doth  tremble  like  a  thing  surprised," — 

by  the  awful  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  by 
the  joy  of  goodness,  by  the  pain  of  sin,  by 
the  longing  for  God,  I  know  that  I  am  a 
living  soul. 

II.  But  for  how  long  ?  That  is  the 
question.  This  living  soul  is  indubitably 
bound  to  a  material  body.  With  the  body 
it  grows  and  acts  and  enjoys  and  suffers. 
Does  it  also  decay  and  perish  with  the 
body  ?  As  the  muscles  relax,  and  the  limbs 
grow  feeble,  and  the  senses  are  dulled,  — 
as  the  breath  falters  and  fails,  as  the  eyes 
close,    as    the   heart   trembles   and   stands 


THE  LIVING  SOUL,  61 

still, — does  tlie  living  spirit  cease  to  be? 
Does  tlie  light  of  the  soul  go  out  in  utter 
darkness  ?  Not  so !  It  has  within  itself 
the  promise  and  the  power  of  an  endless 
life.  It  is  made  not  for  time,  but  for  eter- 
nity. And  even  while  it  dwells  within  the 
frail  and  feeble  tenement  of  the  body,  the 
soul  is  conscious  of  its  immortal  destiny. 

1.  This  is  the  universal  testimony  of  the 
human  race.  Mankind  will  not  believe  that 
death  ends  all.  In  every  religion  there  is  a 
doctrine  of  a  future  life.  The  tombs  and 
temples  of  the  world,  the  massive  pyramids 
of  Egypt,  the  glittering  shrines  of  the  East, 
the  stately  edifices  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
the  vast  circles  of  gray  stones  which  bear 
their  mysterious  witness  to  the  forgotten 
faith  of  ancient  Britain,  the  gigantic  altars 
hidden  in  the  forests  of  South  America,  — 
all  these  are  monuments,  not  so  much  of  the 
Past,  as  of  the  Future.  They  are  silent 
witnesses  to  the  faith  of  humanity  in  an- 
other world. 

And  is  it  not  a  wonderful  thing  that  such 
a  faith  should  everywhere  exist  ?     Is  it  not 


62  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

a  wonderful  thing  that  man  beholding  death 
on  every  side,  living  in  a  world  where  all 
things  are  subject  to  decay,  seeing  hundreds 
of  his  fellow-beings  perish  about  him  day 
by  day,  feeling  in  his  own  body  the  power 
of  disease  and  dissolution,  should  ever  have 
dared  to  begin,  should  still  dare  to  continue, 
to  believe  that  he  would  not  die  ?  Whence 
came  this  faith  ?  Surely  not  from  a  mor- 
tal source.  Surely  a  power  divine  has  writ- 
ten on  the  soul  that  inscription  which  sin 
cannot  bury  and  doubt  cannot  efface.  Thou 
art  immortal. 

2.  I  think  every  one  of  us  has  read  this 
inscription  on  his  own  soul.  Every  one  of 
us  has  a  deep  personal  conviction  of  im- 
mortality. We  may  not  be  able  to  ex- 
plain it;  we  may  not  be  able  to  argue  it 
out.  But  we  feel  that  we  shall  live  forever. 
The  sense  of  personal  identity,  the  absolute 
unity  of  our  being,  makes  it  inconceivable 
that  we  should  perish.  For  destruction 
means  dissolution.  And  that  which  has  no 
parts,  that  which  is  a  unit,  cannot  be  dis- 
solved.    The    soul,   that   which   feels   and 


THE  LIVING  SOUL.  63 

thinks  and  wills,  your  self,  is  individual, 
and  therefore  indissoluble.  You  can  im- 
agine your  body  as  crumbling  away,  decay- 
ing, scattering,  yanishing.  But  you  cannot 
think  yourself  non-existent. 

3.  Moreover,  the  very  powers  of  man's 
spiritual  life  demand  a  wider  field  and  an 
unlimited  duration  for  their  exercise  and 
completion.  There  is  something  prophetic 
in  thought  and  in  emotion.  In  the  heart  of 
our  imperfect  knowledge  there  is  lodged  the 
hope  of  a  perfect  wisdom.  At  the  end  of 
our  broken  reasonings  there  shines  the  light 
of  a  higher  truth.  All  our  conclusions,  all 
our  theories,  all  our  aspirations,  point  for- 
ward. Our  very  defects  are  intimations  of 
a  future  development,  and  our  limitations 
are  but  barriers  which  we  are  gaining 
strength  to  overleap. 

What  is  it  all  worth  unless  there  be  a 
bej^ond?  What  are  the  attainments  and 
acquisitions  of  our  three -score  and  ten 
years,  unless  they  are  to  be  completed  and 
perfected  and  applied  in  a  hereafter  ?  Why 
struggle  and  toil  to  gather  a  little  knowl- 


64  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

edge  that  will  be  buried  in  all  its  weakness 
and  incompletion  in  the  grave?  But  Reason 
herself  breaks  the  chains  of  such  a  despair- 
ing doctrine.  She  shapes  her  wings  to  fly. 
She  looks  onward  and  upward.  An  end- 
less vista  opens  before  her.  She  anticipates 
immortality. 

And  how  much  more  prophetic  is  love ! 
Those  strong  affections  which  bind  heart 
to  heart  and  life  to  life  in  the  most  precious 
and  beautiful  of  human  relationships,  that 
intense  devotion  which  almost  seems  to  con- 
quer personality  and  make  of  two  souls  one, 
those  tender  and  sensitive  emotions  which 
seem  so  frail  and  unsubstantial,  but  have 
the  power  to  master  every  faculty  and  sway 
the  spirit  at  their  will,  —  when  do  they  find 
their  earthly  close  and  completion  ?  What 
do  they  know  of  dissolution  ?  They  will 
not  hear  of  death.  They  reach  out  into 
the  gloom.  They  demand  and  they  promise 
a  future  satisfaction,  —  an  endless  reunion. 
"  If  love  lives  through  all  life  and  survives 
through  all  sorrow ;  and  remains  steadfast 
with  us  through  all  changes ;    and   in  all 


THE  LIVING  SOUL.  65 

darkness  of  spirit  burns  brightly ;  and  if  we 
die,  deplores  us  forever  and  still  loves  us 
equally ;  and  exists  with  the  very  last  gasp 
and  throb  of  the  faithful  bosom,  —  whence 
it  passes  with  the  pure  soul  beyond  death ; 
surely  it  shall  be  immortal.  Though  we 
who  remain  are  separated  from  it,  is  it  not 
ours  in  heaven  ?  If  we  love  still  those 
whom  we  lose,  can  we  altogether  lose 
those  we  love  ?  "  No,  a  thousand  times  no ! 
If  this  world  were  all,  the  life  of  man 
would  be  a  mockery  and  a  curse,  infinitely 
more  wretched  and  pitiable  than  that  of  the 
brutes,  who  perish  without  love  or  thought. 
These  pure  desires,  these  ardent  longings, 
these  close  and  tender  affections,  —  kindled 
and  fostered  in  our  hearts  for  a  few  brief 
years  and  then  shattered  forever?  Nay, 
they  live  forever.  They  do  not  acknowl- 
edge the  dominion  of  the  grave.  They  be- 
long to  a  higher  world. 

"  Love  is  indestructible. 
Its  holy  flame  forever  burnetii ; 
From  heaven  it  came,  to  heaven  returneth. 
It  soweth  here  with  toil  and  care, 
But  the  harvest  time  of  love  is  there." 

5 


66  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

4.  Once  more,  the  relations  of  the  hu- 
man soul  to  God  demand  a  future  and  end- 
less life.  We  know  Him,  but  our  knowledge 
is  partial,  broken,  and  imperfect.  Glimpses 
of  His  face  we  catch  through  the  rolling 
clouds  that  encircle  Him,  and  these 
glimpses  contain  the  promise  of  a  clearer 
vision,  a  closer  knowledge.  We  worship 
and  love  Him,  but  this  adoration  and  this 
love  are  feeble  and  incomplete.  Drawings 
and  upliftings  of  the  heart  towards  Him  we 
feel,  and  these  emotions  are  the  pledge  of  a 
more  perfect  love,  of  a  more  living  fellow- 
ship. We  acknowledge  Him  as  our  Lord 
and  Ruler,  we  know  that  we  stand  before 
Him  to  be  judged.  And  this  sense  of  awful 
responsibility  is  the  prophecy  that  we  shall 
appear  before  His  face  to  answer  for  our 
lives.  It  is  incredible  that  we  should  ever 
have  known  Him,  incredible  that  He  should 
ever  have  brought  us  into  such  relations 
with  Himself,  if  we  were  but  transient 
and  perishable  forms  of  clay.  By  the  re- 
ality of  God  we  know  that  we  are  living 
souls,  and  that  our  souls  shall  live  forever. 


THE  LIVING  SOUL.  67 

Here,  then,  is  the  truth  which  you  feel  in 
every  fibre  of  your  being,  which  is  confirmed 
by  all  the  experience  of  thought  and  feeling 
and  will,  which  is  echoed  by  the  strong  clear 
voice  of  humanity,  and  attested  by  the  word 
of  God.  Not  that  you  have  a  soul  as  well 
as  a  body.  But  that  you  are  a  soul,  living, 
spiritual,  immortal,  and  that  your  destiny 
stretches  on  before  you  into  eternity. 

Since  this  is  so,  how  will  you  answer  the 
question  of  Christ,  "  What  shall  it  profit  a 
man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his 
own  soul?"  Surely  he  must  be  of  all  men 
the  most  miserable. 

What  can  be  compared  for  a  moment 
with  the  needs  and  destinies  of  the  soul  ? 
Even  here,  upon  this  bank  and  shoal  of 
time,  they  are  supreme  above  all  other  in- 
terests. There  is  a  hunger  which  cannot  be 
stayed  with  bread.  There  is  a  thirst  which 
cannot  be  quenched  with  water.  There  is 
a  nakedness  which  cannot  be  covered  with 
purple  and  fine  linen.  Vainly  shall  you 
strive  to  satisfy  these  wants  with  things 
which  perish  in  the  using.     You  are  spend- 


68  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

ing  your  strength  for  naught,  and  your 
labor  for  that  which  satisfieth  not.  You 
are  wasting  your  life,  if  you  are  neglecting 
your  soul.  Deeply,  unutterably  wretched 
must  you  be  if  you  do  not  provide  for  your 
highest  needs  and  care  for  your  noblest 
interests.  The  heavenly  bread  of  truth, 
the  living  water  of  faith,  the  white  robe 
of  holiness,  —  seek  and  find  these  things, 
and  your  soul  shall  be  satisfied  and  at 
peace  even  here  on  earth. 

And  beyond, — in  that  mysterious  life 
which  stretches  away  through  endless  ages, 
—  how  great,  how  infinite  are  the  interests 
of  your  soul !  When  tliis  body  in  which 
you  live  has  fallen  in  decrepitude  and  min- 
gled with  the  graveyard  mould,  when  these 
walls  have  crumbled  and  this  roof  has 
sunken  in  decay,  when  this  great  and  proud 
city  has  become  a  ruin,  and  the  world  itself 
has  perished,  —  when  a  million  years  have 
passed  away,  your  soul  will  still  be  living  in 
wretchedness  or  in  bliss.  What  then  will 
you  think  of  the  objects  which  you  now 
pursue  so  eagerly,  —  the  fame,  the  wealth, 


THE  LIVING  SOUL.  69 

the  pleasure  of  this  world  ?  They  will  seem 
to  you  as  nothing,  and  less  than  nothing. 
A  moment  of  time  in  the  balance  against 
eternity  i  a  single  drop  of  pleasure  against 
an  ocean  of  happiness  ;  a  single  pang  of  sac- 
rifice against  an  endless  woe ;  a  span  of  life 
with  man  against  an  everlasting  fellowship 
with  God,  —  when  you  have  weighed  these 
things  through  the  unceasing  ages,  you  will 
understand  that  the  one  question  in  the 
world  which  has  reality,  beside  which  all 
others  vanish  like  dreams,  is  this;  How 
shall  you  save  your  immortal  soul  ? 


IV. 

THE   LIVING   WORD. 


IV. 

Heb.  iv.  12.     The  word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful^ 

This  sermon  revolves  about  a  book.  A 
book  which  has  been  accepted,  for  a  score 
of  centuries,  as  divine ;  a  book  which  has 
exercised  a  wider  and  deeper  influence  upon 
human  thought  and  life  than  all  other  vol- 
umes in  the  world,  —  such  a  book  as  this  is 
certainly  no  dream,  but  a  reality,  and  one 
well  worthy  of  our  attention. 

But  I  do  not  propose  to  consider  the  Bible 
merely  as  a  book.  For  the  one  thing  that  is 
peculiar  about  it,  is  that  it  claims  to  be  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  literary  produc- 
tion. In  whatever  form  it  comes  to  us,  — 
written  on  rolls  of  ancient  and  discolored 
parchment,  repeated  by  living  lips  of  men 
who  have  learned  it  by  heart,  printed  on 
coarsest  paper  or  on  costliest  sheets  of  vel- 


74  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

lum,  in  Hebrew  or  in  Greek,  in  English  or 
in  Chinese,  bound  in  the  fragrant  leather 
of  Russia  or  scattered  abroad  in  fragments 
on  loose  and  flying  leaves,  —  in  whatever 
shape  the  Bible  comes  to  men,  it  claims  to 
be  something  better  than  a  book.  It  pre- 
sents itself  as  a  living  word,  —  the  word  of 
the  Almighty  God  revealing  Himself  to 
His  creatures. 

The  question  is  whether  this  claim  is  true. 
Not,  can  we  justify  it,  —  but  does  it  justify 
itself  ?  Not,  can  we  explain  and  analyze  and 
defend  it,  — but  do  we  feel  it  as  a  reality  ? 
For  after  all  the  Bible  must  be  its  own 
argument  and  defense.  The  power  of  it 
can  never  be  proved  unless  it  is  felt.  The 
authority  of  it  can  never  be  supported  un- 
less it  is  manifest.  The  light  of  it  can 
never  be  demonstrated  unless  it  shines.  If 
it  comes  to  us  with  a  quickening  and  illu- 
mining might ;  if  it  is  warm  and  throbbing 
with  a  secret  life ;  if,  as  Coleridge  said,  it 
finds  us,  and  touches  us,  and  makes  our 
souls  alive,  then  we  know  that  it  is  divine. 

For  this  is  the  difference  between  a  word 


THE  LIVING   WORD.  75 

and  a  book.  The  one  is  mechanical,  the 
other  is  vital.  The  one  is  printed  and  bound 
and  read,  the  other  breathes  and  moves  and 
works.  The  one  is  a  material  product,  the 
other  is  a  spiritual  power.  And  the  point 
of  supreme  importance  in  all  the  present 
controversies  about  the  Bible  is  just  this : 
Does  it  truly  manifest  a  superhuman  spir- 
itual life  and  power ;  does  it  convey  to  us 
the  mind  and  heart  and  will  of  our  Heav- 
enly Father  ?  For  if  it  does,  this  dead  book 
contains  the  living  word  of  the  living  God 
spoken  eternally  to  the  living  soul. 

You  see  at  once  this  carries  us  far  beyond 
the  sphere  of  literary  and  critical  investiga- 
tion. Theories  of  inspiration,  verbal,  literal, 
plenary,  partial ;  arguments  concerning  au- 
thorship and  authority;  higher  criticism 
and  lower  criticism  ;  disputes  about  names 
and  numbers,  —  all  these  we  shall  leave  far 
behind  us.  We  do  not  say  that  they  are 
trivial,  but  we  do  say  that  they  are  second- 
aryo  We  do  say  that  men  are  dwelling  upon 
them  with  undue  emphasis,  and  reducing  the 
Bible  to  the  level  of  mere  literature.     We 


76  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

do  say  that  tlie  study  of  the  Scriptures  in 
the  spirit  of  cold  historical  research  or  su- 
percilious fault-finding,  the  picking  over  of 
its  facts  and  narratives  with  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  exhibiting  either  their  inconsistency 
or  their  agreement,  is  not  a  religious  work 
in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word,  and  ought 
never  to  be  made  the  prominent  theme  of 
public  preaching  or  of  private  meditation. 

It  is  as  if  God  should  send  an  ang^el  to_ 
tell  us  of  Himself ;  and  our  firs tjeffort  should 
J        be  to  catch  the  shining  me^nger,  lay  hhn. 
on  the   dissecting^  -  table,    and   cut   him   in 
pieces,  to  find  out  how  he  was  made. 

Bind  not,  slay  not,  the  word  of  God.  For 
if  it  is  to  save  us  it  must  come  to  us  alive, 
and  speak  with  a  living  voice  to  our  deepest 
hearts. 

This  is  what  we  want.  This  is  what  our 
spirits  long  and  yearn  and  cry  to  receive ;  — 
a  real  communication  from  that  great  and 
awful  Being  in  whose  image  we  are  made 
and  in  whose  communion  alone  we  can  find 
rest ;  an  utterance  from  that  Father  whose 
face  Ave  have  not  seen,  but  for  whose  love 


TEE  LIVING   WORD.  77 

our  hearts  are  hungry;  a  word  of  God, 
which  shall  be  quick  and  powerful  to  our 
souls,  and  kindle  them  to  a  higher,  a  holier, 
a  happier  life.  If  we  can  find  this  it  will  be 
more  precious  than  rubies ;  we  will  cherish 
it  more  than  all  earthly  treasures ;  it  will 
be  a  lamp  unto  our  feet  and  a  light  unto  our 
path,  a  consolation  and  a  joy  forever. 

We  have  a  right,  then,  and  not  only  a 
right,  but,  in  the  highest  sense,  a  duty,  to 
apply  to  the  Bible  the  simple  and  searching 
test  which  is  suggested  by  the  text.  It  is 
true  that  these  words  were  not  written,  in 
their  original  connection,  of  the  entire  Scrip- 
tures as  we  now  possess  them.  They  refer 
strictly  to  a  specific  utterance  of  Jehovah, 
the  word  of  warning  and  judgment  which 
was  spoken  to  His  ancient  people.  But,  at 
the  same  time,  they  are  a  true  description 
of  every  divine  word.  Every  utterance  of 
God  must  have  and  manifest  these  two 
qualities,  and  their  presence  or  absence  is  a 
suflS.cient  test  of  the  reality  of  a  revelation. I 

It  must  be  quick  and  powerful :  not  merely 
agile  and  strong;  the  original  meaning  of 


78  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

the  words  goes  far  deeper,  l^v  koX  ivcpyrj<;,  — 
living  and  operative,  inworking,  power- 
producing.  We  have  here  the  two  ideas  of 
vitality  and  activity,  a  life  manifested  in 
energy,  a  spiritual  existence  and  a  spiritual 
potency.  We  may,  therefore,  consider  the 
word  of  God  in  the  Bible,  jBrst,  as  living; 
second,  as  life-producing. 

I.  The  marks  of  life  are  three:  unity, 
continuity,  adaptability. 

1.  Every  living  thing  is  a  unit.  It  has  a 
centre,  a  single  and  individual  principle  of 
being.  The  most  famous  attempt  of  modern 
science  to  define  life  is  based  upon  this  fact. 
That  which  is  alive  must  be  homogeneous. 
And  this  is  the  great  difference  between  a 
living  creature  and  a  manufactured  article. 
The  manufactured  article  has  parts.  The 
living  creature  has  no  parts,  but  hmbs  and 
organs  which  are  made  one  by  the  spirit  of 
life. 

In  a  spiritual  sense  this  is  evidently  true 
of  the  Bible.  There  is  a  manifest  unity  in 
it.  It  is  not  a  composition  of  disordered 
and  discordant  fragments.    It  is  one  Word. 


THE  LIVING    WORD.  79 

A  single  life  animates  it  and  breathes  from 
every  page.  And  this  appears  the  more 
wonderful  when  we  reflect  that  in  its  out- 
ward form  it  is  the  work  of  men  separated 
one  from  another  by  the  widest  differences 
of  age,  of  character,  of  training,  and  of  en- 
vironment. More  than  a  thousand  years 
were  occupied  in  the  writing  of  it.  Legis- 
lators, shepherds,  poets,  warriors,  kings,  a 
tent-maker,  a  physician,  a  fisherman ;  men 
of  action  and  men  of  reflection,  men  of  no 
education  and  men  of  the  highest  learning, 
men  of  fiery  temper  and  men  of  gentle 
spirit,  —  more  than  forty  hands  were  em- 
ployed upon  this  work.  And  yet  it  is  one 
throughout,  woven  without  seam  from  top 
to  bottom.  The  same  view  of  God,  deep- 
ening and  unfolding ;  the  same  view  of  man, 
piercing  farther  and  farther  into  the  secrets 
of  the  soul;  the  same  view  of  life,  lifting 
ever  higher  and  higher  the  standard  of 
holiness  and  love.  Under  many  different 
forms  and  manners  of  speech  it  is  always 
the  same  mighty  voice  declaring  to  us  the 
same  living  truth. 


> 


80  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

You  cannot  cut  up  the  Word  of  God,  and 
you  cannot  piece  it  out.  Try  it.  Take  a 
fragment  from  the  Egyptian  Book  of  the 
Dead,  and  insert  it  into  the  books  of  Moses ; 
or  take  tlie  apocryphal  Gospel  of  the  In- 
fancy of  Jesus,  and  thrust  it  into  the  opening 
chapters  of  St.  Luke's  Gospel.  Instantly 
you  will  perceive  that  you  have  added  a 
piece  of  old  cloth  to  a  new  garment.  You 
have  spoiled  the  book.  You  have  made  a 
rent,  not  an  addition.  The  spiritual  unity 
of  the  Word  is  violated.  It  will  not  suffer  the 
mingling  of  any  human  substance  with  it. 

Now  whence  comes  this  marvelous  inward 
unity  ?  Not  from  external  causes.  Not  from 
a  preconcerted  agreement  of  the  writers,  for 
men  who  lived  a  thousand  years  apart  could 
not  have  consulted  together  as  to  what  they 
should  write.  Not  from  a  similarity  of  cir- 
cumstances, for  nothing  could  be  more  dif- 
ferent than  the  surroundings  of  Moses  and 
Solomon  from  those  of  Paul  and  John.  Not 
from  a  conscious  imitation,  for  then  the 
writers  would  have  been  more  careful  to 
produce  an  outward  resemblance  and  less 


THE  LIVING    WORD.  81 

successful  in  accomplishing  an  inward  unity. 
It  can  come  only  from  the  one  Spirit  who 
breathes  and  speaks  alike  through  all  these 
different  instruments,  and  uses  the  histories 
and  prophecies  and  psalms  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, the  narratives  and  epistles  of  the 
New  Testament,  to  convey  the  Word  of 
God  to  men. 

We  feel  this  by  a  sort  of  instinct.  We 
recognize  the  same  spiritual  tone  and  accent 
in  every  portion  of  the  Word.  We  feel  that 
it  must  be  received  altogether  or  not  at  all ; 
for  it  is  one,  bound  together  in  a  truly  vital 
unity. 

2.  And  this  unity  is  continuous.  This 
also  is  a  mark  of  every  living  creature.  It 
is  not  momentary  and  transient.  It  has  a 
principle  of  life,  a  purpose,  a  tendency ;  and 
its  life-history,  be  it  long  or  short,  is  the 
continuous  and  consistent  unfolding  of  this 
principle.  The  living  creature  is  not  a  plant 
to-day  and  a  bird  to-morrow.  From  the 
first  moment  of  its  existence  to  the  last,  it 
follows  a  straight  line.  It  develops  and  acts 
with,  continuity. 


82  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

This  is  cbaracteristic  of  the  Word  of  God 
as  it  is  contained  in  the  Bible.  It  has  al- 
ways manifested  its  life  in  the  same  line, 
with  powers  and  qualities  which  grow,  but 
do  not  change.  From  the  very  first  it  has 
entered  into  the  spiritual  history  of  the  race 
with  a  unique  character  wliich  it  has  pre- 
served to  the  present  day.  The  Jews  ac- 
cepted it,  in  its  first  imperfect  form,  as  the 
utterance  of  God,  and  it  was  to  them  the 
source  and  fountain  of  religious  life.  Jesus 
Christ  recognized  and  used  it  in  the  same 
spirit.  His  disciples  were  guided  and  con- 
trolled by  it  in  the  same  way.  From  age 
to  age  it  grew ;  book  after  book  was  added 
to  the  canon  of  Scripture,  until  at  last  it 
was  complete  ;  but  the  life  and  history  of 
the  Word  have  been  unbroken  and  continu- 
ous. It  has  not  been  one  thing  to  one 
century,  and  another  to  the  next.  Always 
and  everywhere,  it  has  been  the  revelation 
of  the  Divine  to  the  human.  And  now, 
after  so  many  centuries  have  passed  away, 
it  is  still  manifesting  the  same  life,  still 
doing  the  same  work  in  the  world. 


THE  LIVING    WORD.  83 

Where  shall  you  find  another  book  which 
has  had  such  a  history  ?  "  The  little  ark  of 
Jewish  literature,"  containing  the  living 
treasure  of  God's  word,  "  still  floats  above 
the  surges  of  time,  while  mere  fragments  of 
the  wrecked  archives  of  the  huge  oriental 
empires,  as  well  as  of  the  lesser  kingdoms 
that  surrounded  Judea,  are  now  and  then 
cast  upon  our  distant  shores." 

3.  Another  mark  of  life  is  adaptability. 
By  this  I  mean  the  power  of  the  living 
creature  to  fit  itself  to  its  surroundings,  to 
adjust  its  operations  to  a  varied  and  chang-  \ 
ing  environment.  And  this  belongs  in  an 
eminent  degree  to  the  Word  of  God. 

Consider  how  different  are  the  races  to 
which  it  has  come;  how  widely  separated  in 
disposition  and  employment  are  the  indi- 
viduals in  whose  hands  it  has  been  placed. 
And  yet  to  all  tribes,  and  to  all  men,  it  has 
adapted  itself  with  vital  power.  The  He- 
brews found  that  it  was  a  sure  and  sufficient 
guide  for  them,  alike  in  their  desert-wander- 
ings and  in  their  established  kingdom  under 
the  house  of  David.     The  nations  of  Chris- 


84  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

tian  Europe  have  made  it  the  basis  of  all 
their  forms  of  government.  It  is  woven 
into  the  established  law  of  every  civilized 
people.  The  fathers  of  our  own  Republic, 
coming  to  set  up  their  new  nation  upon  the 
barren  shores  of  this  wild  continent,  could 
find  no  better  guide  than  this  same  word  of 
God.  Into  every  country  it  has  come ;  into 
every  language  it  has  been  translated.  I 
have  seen  a  volume  called  "  The  Bible  of 
every  Land,"  in  which  there  are  portions 
of  this  book  as  it  has  been  rendered  in 
more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  different 
tongues. 

It  is  the  Word  of  the  world.  It  does  not 
belong  to  any  race,  nor  to  any  class.  It 
belongs  to  all  men.  "It  goes  equally  to  the 
cottage  of  the  plain  man  and  the  palace  of 
the  king.  It  is  woven  into  the  literature 
of  the  scholar,  and  colors  the  talk  of  the 
streets.  It  enters  men's  closets,  mingles  in 
all  the  grief  and  cheerfulness  of  life.  The 
Bible  attends  men  in  sickness,  when  the 
fever  of  the  world  is  upon  them.  ...  It  is 
the  better  part  of  our  sermons,  it  lifts  man 


THE  LIVING   WORD.  85 

above  himself.  Our  best  of  uttered  prayers 
are  in  its  storied  speech  wherewith  our 
fathers  and  the  patriarchs  pra3^ed.  The 
timid  man,  about  to  wake  from  his  dream 
of  hfe,  looks  through  the  glass  of  Scripture, 
and  his  eye  grows  bright ;  he  does  not  fear 
to  stand  alone,  to  tread  the  way  unknown 
and  distant,  to  take  the  death-angel  by  the 
hand,  and  bid  farewell  to  wife  and  babes  and 
home.  .  .  .  Some  thousand  famous  writers 
come  up  in  this  century  to  be  forgotten  in 
the  next ;  but  the  silver  cord  of  the  Bible 
is  not  loosed,  nor  its  golden  bowl  broken, 
as  Time  chronicles  his  tens  of  centuries 
passed  by." 

And  can  not  we  also  bear  witness  to  this 
marvelous  and  living  adaptability  of  this 
Word  of  God  to  every  mood  and  phase 
of  our  own  experience  ?  There  are  some 
of  us,  I  know,  who  have  stood,  like  Rus- 
kin,  in  childhood  beside  our  mother's  knee, 
and  heard,  with  a  pleasure  which  is  now 
hallowed  in  our  memory,  that  dear  voice 
reading  the  wise  counsels  and  wondrous 
histories  of  the  Bible.     There  are  some  of 


86  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

US  who  have  turned,  in  the  hour  of  great 
perplexity  and  temptation  of  the  evil  one, 
to  these  sacred  pages,  and  found  the  sav- 
ing, enlightening  word  which  alone  could 
show  us  the  true  way  and  strengthen  us  to 
follow  it.  There  are  some  of  us  who  have 
received  from  this  precious  book  the  conso- 
lation without  which  we  never  could  have 
borne  the  sorrows  and  bereavements  of  our 
life.  Yes,  and  there  are  some  of  us  who 
have  sat  in  the  darkened  room,  beside  the 
bed  of  death,  and  read  the  blessed  words 
which  seemed  to  fill  the  place  of  gloom  and 
anguish  with  the  very  light  and  peace  of 
heaven.  "Read  to  me,"  said  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  when  he  lay  a-dying,  to  his  son-in- 
law,  Lockhart.  "  What  book  shall  I  read?" 
asked  Lockhart.  "  Can  you  ask  ?  "  was  the 
reply,  "  there  is  but  one ;  "  and  he  begged 
him  to  read  a  chapter  from  St.  John's  Gos- 
pel. Ah !  those  well-worn  pages,  blotted 
perhaps  in  your  Bible  with  the  mark  of 
tears,  stained  with  the  little  flower  that  you 
have  pressed  between  them,  —  can  their 
comfort  ever  die,  can  their  life  ever  cease  ? 


THE  LIVING    WORD.  87 

Nay,  for  they  bring  to  us  the  Word  of  God, 
which  liveth  and  abideth  forever. 

II.  But  now  turn  for  a  moment  to  con- 
sider the  life-producing  power  of  the  Word 
as  it  is  contained  in  the  Scriptures.  The 
spiritual  efficiency  of  the  Bible  in  the  world 
is  manifest  in  facts  which  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned, and  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  prove 
that  it  cannot  be  a  mere  book,  but  must  be 
a  living  word.  Wherever  it  comes  and  is 
received  it  brings  forth  fruit.  It  enlightens, 
purifies,  upUfts.  It  really  brings  God  nearer 
to  men,  and  men  nearer  to  God.  It  creates 
a  real  and  living  bond,  and  establishes  an 
intimate  communion  between  the  divine  and 
the  human. 

This  power  is  not  confined  to  any  one 
portion  of  the  Word,  but  belongs  to  it  all. 
From  the  histories  of  the  Old  Testament  as 
well  as  from  those  of  the  New,  from  the 
precepts  of  the  law  as  well  as  from  the 
poetry  of  the  Psalms,  from  the  discourses  of 
the  prophets  as  well  as  from  the  doctrines 
of  the  apostles,  the  same  vital  influence 
and  energy  flow  to  the  soul. 


88  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

The  life  which  the  Bible  produces  is  three- 
fold, —  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual.  It 
gives  men  wider  and  clearer  conceptions  of 
truth,  deeper  and  stronger  convictions  of 
duty,  closer  and  purer  relations  to  God  ; 
and  in  doing  this  ifc  manifests  an  energy 
which  can  only  come  from  His  living  Word. 

1.  I  do  not  think  we  fully  understand  how 
much  of  the  intelligence  of  humanity  in  the 
higher  spheres  of  knowledge  and  thought  is 
directly  due  to  the  Bible.  The  revelations 
which  it  brings  have  filtered  through  a 
thousand  secret  channels  into  the  remotest 
corners  of  the  world,  and  return  to  us  with- 
out acknowledging  the  source  from  which 
they  sprung.  INIany  of  the  noblest  utter- 
ances of  philosophy  and  the  grandest  theo- 
ries of  science  are  but  the  unfolding  of  seeds 
which  have  fallen  from  the  fullness  of  Scrip- 
ture into  the  hidden  places  of  the  human 
mind.  All  that  is  best  and  loftiest  in  our 
modern  thought  —  its  high  regard  for  hu- 
manit}^  its  spiritual  conception  of  Deity,  the 
breadth  of  its  charity,  and  the  firmness  with 
which  it  lays  hold  on  the  hopes  of  a  better 


THE  LIVING   WORD.  89 

future  for  the  race  —  may  be  traced  di- 
rectly to  the  Bible.  The  very  men  who  rail 
at  it  and  affect  to  despise  it  owe  their  best 
ideas  to  its  influence.  The  reason  why  an 
enlightened  American  has  a  nobler  and  a 
truer  view  of  the  world  and  life  than  an 
African  savage,  is  chiefly  because  he  has 
the  Word  of  God.  Blot  out  that  which  has 
come  from  the  Bible,  and  you  will  destroy 
the  best  part  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
race. 

2.  But  wider  still,  and  more  glorious,  has 
been  the  influence  of  this  Word  upon  man's 
moral  life.  Wherever  it  has  come  it  has 
elevated  and  purified  humanity.  Righteous- 
ness and  peace  flourish  under  its  shadow. 
It  is  the  bulwark  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty;  the  corner-stone  of  the  hospital  and 
the  asylum;  the  shelter  and  safeguard  of 
the  happy  home.  On  its  sure  foundation 
governments  are  established,  and  by  its  holy 
sanction  laws  are  made  sacred.  It  is  the 
fountain  of  public  equity  and  private  virtue  ; 
it  makes  men  just  and  loyal  and  obedient ; 
binds  them  to  serve  their  country  and  their 


90  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

kind;  summons  them  to  defend  the  op- 
pressed and  resist  tja-anny  ;  inspires  them 
to  deeds  of  chivahy  and  daring.  It  stretches 
a  protecting  arm  about  the  poor  and  suffer- 
ing, and  opens  the  sweet  springs  of  charity 
and  mercy  in  the  human  heart.  Women 
are  purer  and  sweeter,  men  are  braver  and 
better,  where  the  Word  of  God  has  come. 
"  Wherever  it  is  duly  obeyed,  it  makes  the 
desert  of  the  world  to  bud  and  blossom  as 
the  rose." 

Well  has  this  been  illustrated  by  the 
words  of  one  of  the  Bishops  of  the  English 
Church  :  — 

"  I  invite  any  honest-minded  man  to  look 
at  a  map  of  the  world  and  see  what  a  story 
that  map  tells.  Which  are  the  countries  on 
the  face  of  the  globe  at  this  moment  where 
there  is  the  greatest  amount  of  idolatry,  or 
cruelty,  or  impurit}'-,  or  misgovernment,  or 
disregard  of  life,  liberty,  and  truth  ?  Pre- 
cisely those  countries  where  the  Bible  is  not 
known.  Wliich  are  the  Christian  countries, 
so-called,  where  the  greatest  quantity  of  ig- 
norance, superstition,  and  corruption  is  to 


THE  LIVING   WORD.  91 

be  found  at  the  moment  ?  The  countries  in 
which  the  Bible  is  a  forbidden  or  neglected 
book,  —  such  countries  as  Spain  and  the 
South  American  States.  Which  are  the 
countries  where  liberty  and  public  and  pri- 
vate morality  have  attained  the  highest 
pitch  ?  The  countries  where  the  Bible  is 
free  to  all,  like  England,  Scotland,  Ger- 
many, and  the  United  States.  Yes !  when 
you  know  how  a  nation  deals  with  the  Bible 
you  may  know  what  that  nation  is." 

Now  what  is  the  secret  of  this  ?  Surely 
this  is  a  result  too  large  to  come  from  any 
mere  book.  This  is  the  moral  power  of  a 
living  word,  and  a  word  which  is  backed  by 
the  authority  of  God  Himself.  Here  is  the 
vast  and  vital  difference  between  the  Bible 
and  all  systems  of  human  morality.  They 
tell  us  to  do  thus  and  so  because  it  is  useful 
or  because  it  is  right.  But  the  Word  tells 
us  to  do  thus  and  so  because  God  wills  it. 
He  who  is  above  all  things  in  power  and 
glory.  He  who  has  made  us  for  His  service 
and  can  reward  us  with  everlasting  blessed- 
ness, He  speaks  to  us,  saying,  "  This  do  and 


92  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

thou  sbalt  live."  Thus  our  virtue  is  lifted 
above  the  sphere  of  mere  utility  or  expe- 
diency, and  our  duty  becomes  a  golden  chain 
to  bind  us  to  the  ever-living  and  ever-blessed 
God. 

3.  And  here,  you  see,  the  moral  life  pro- 
duced by  the  Bible  runs  into  the  spiritual. 
All  wisdom  and  all  goodness  are  embraced 
in  the  right  relation  of  the  human  soul  to 
God.  This  is  life,  present  and  eternal,  to 
know  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  He  has  sent.  And  this  the  Divine 
Word  gives  to  us.  It  really  brings  us  into 
contact  with  God. 

Where  else  shall  we  find  this  knowledge  ? 
Destroy,  for  a  moment,  all  that  is  contained 
in  the  Bible  about  God,  and  what  will  you 
have  left  ?  What  will  you  know  of  His 
goodness,  His  mercy.  His  truth  ?  What 
assurance  will  you  have  of  your  relation  to 
Him,  your  power  to  obtain  His  grace  and 
favor?  What  will  remain  of  your  concep- 
tion of  His  fatherhood,  your  trust  in  His 
providence,  your  reliance  on  His  everlasting 
love  ?     Oh,  how  vague  and  feeble,  how  cold 


TEE  LIVING   WORD.  93 

and  distant,  liow  glimmering  and  uncertain, 
are  all  the  lights  of  nature  and  philosophy- 
compared  with  the  light  of  the  Word ! 

*'  Stars  are  poor  books  and  oftentimes  do  miss  ; 
This  book  of  stars  lights  to  eternal  bliss." 

The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  ;  but 
the  Word  shows  us  His  forgiving  mercy 
and  His  tender  compassion.  Every  creature 
that  He  has  made  bears  witness  to  His  wis- 
dom and  power ;  but  the  Word  comes  to  us 
warm  and  living  from  a  Father's  heart, 
and  draws  us  to  Him  in  penitence  and  faith. 
Here  we  learn  of  that  purpose  of  redemption 
which  was  hidden  from  all  eternity  in  the 
bosom  of  God.  Here  we  see  Him  dealing 
in  righteousness  and  mercy  with  His  guilty 
and  erring  children,  binding  them  to  Him- 
self in  covenants  of  everlasting  love,  leading 
them  wisely  and  kindly  in  the  way  of  life, 
chastening  their  faults,  forgiving  their  sins, 
binding  up  their  wounds,  healing  their  dis- 
eases, restoring  their  souls,  and  lighting  up 
all  the  darkness  of  their  mortal  pathway 
with  the  glow  of  His  heavenly  promises. 


94  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

Here  we  see  Jesus  Christ  moving  graciously 
and  tenderly  through  a  world  of  sin  jind 
sorrow,  and  hear  from  His  lips  the  precious 
words  of  grace  and  truth.  Here  we  behold, 
as  through  an  open  portal,  the  mysteries  of 
the  world  to  come,  and  catch  the  sweet 
echoes  of  the  immortal  songs  of  Paradise. 
All  our  light  upon  the  past,  all  our  comfort 
in  the  present,  all  our  sweet  and  priceless 
hopes  for  the  future,  come  from  this  Word. 
And  by  its  power  our  souls  do  live.  Not 
by  bread  alone,  but  by  the  whisperings 
of  our  Father's  voice,  the  warnings  of  His 
wrath,  the  pleadings  of  His  mercy,  the 
promises  of  His  love,  our  spirits  are  quick- 
ened and  made  alive.  How  often  has  the 
Word  pierced  our  consciences  with  the  ar- 
row of  conviction  for  sin,  and  brought  us 
trembling  and  repenting  to  the  feet  of  God ! 
How  often  has  it  revealed,  amid  the  dark- 
ness of  our  guilt,  the  forgiving  face  of  the 
Saviour  shining  with  unspeakable  compas- 
sion, and  calmed  our  troubled  and  despair- 
ing spirits  with  the  words  of  pardon !  How 
often  has  it  lifted  us  above  the  storms  and 


THE  LIVING   WORD.  95 

pains  and  sorrows  of  this  mortal  life,  into 
the  blessed  peace  of  that  upper  world  where 
God  dwells,  and  comforted  us  with  a  great 
quietness,  as  one  who  hears  his  Father's 
voice ! 

Ah,  my  friends,  we  do  not  need  a  long 
historical  argument,  an  array  of  documents 
and  proofs,  a  profound  and  exact  theory  of 
inspiration.  We  do  not  care  to  wrangle  and 
dispute  about  the  letter,  for  we  have  felt 
the  power  of  the  spirit.  We  know  that 
this  is  the  Word  of  God  because  it  speaks 
to  our  hearts. 


V, 
THE  LIVING  SACRIFICE. 


St.  John  i.  29.    Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world. 

This  text  is  like  a  living  hand  pointing 
forever  to  the  Cross  of  Christ.  It  does  not 
propound  a  doctrine ;  it  declares  a  fact.  It 
does  not  move  in  the  world  of  dreams  and 
abstractions,  but  in  the  world  of  reality.  It 
calls  us  not  to  suppose  or  imagine,  but  to 
hehold;  to  open  our  eyes  and  see  the  Lamb 
of  God  taking  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 

Is  this  true?  As  we  follow  the  guidance 
of  this  pointing  hand  can  we  indeed  discern 
something  real  and  substantial?  Can  we 
see  the  burden  lifted  from  the  heart  of  man 
and  laid  upon  the  Saviour?  Can  we  see 
the  stains  of  evil  washed  away  from  the  soul 
by  the  flowing  of  His  blood  ?  Can  we  see 
the  race  restored  to  harmony  and  peace  with 


100  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

God  by  the  atoning  power  of  the  offering  of 
Jesus  ? 

This  is  the  question  of  supreme  impor- 
tance. For  upon  the  answer  to  this  depends 
the  reahty  of  our  religion.  If  this  be  not 
true,  then  are  we  without  hope  in  the  world. 
We  have  a  God,  existing  from  all  eternity, 
perfect,  serene,  immutable.  We  have  a  soul, 
made  in  His  image,  and  destined  to  an  ever- 
lasting existence.  But  we  have  no  bond 
between  us  and  Him,  no  promise  of  His 
mercy,  no  assurance  of  His  love.  And  even 
His  living  Word,  the  revelation  of  His 
character  and  will,  becomes  vain  and  worth- 
less, loses  the  very  heart  of  its  life,  the  very 
spring  of  its  power,  unless  we  can  discover 
the  reality  of  the  Atonement. 

I  ask  you  then  to  look  this  question  in  the 
face.  Rest  not  in  any  theory.  Build  not 
on  any  doctrine.  Lay  hold  upon  the  facts. 
Question  the  world  and  see  if  it  has  sinned. 
Question  the  Christ  and  see  if  He  be  the 
Lamb  of  God.  Question  the  Cross  and  see 
if  it  has  saved  men  from  guilt  and  death. 

I.  Behold  the  sin  of  the  world.  Is  it  a 
reality  or  is  it  a  fiction  ? 


THE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  101 

Look  out  upon  the  varied  scene  of  hu- 
man life  and  tell  me  truthfully  what  you 
see  there.  You  behold  man  dwelling  in 
a  fair,  well-ordered  universe,  the  manifest 
creation  of  a  beneficent  God.  You  be- 
hold him  surrounded  with  all  things  which 
are  needful  for  his  happiness,  and  incited 
by  every  motive  to  a  life  of  peace  and  ho- 
liness. But  you  behold  instantly  that  he 
is  neither  peaceful  nor  holy,  and  therefore 
that  he  is  not  truly  happy.  How  dark  and 
terrible,  amidst  the  innocence  and  joy  of 
nature,  are  the  evidences  of  human  guilt 
and  misery !  The  green  and  tender  sward 
beside  the  gate  of  Paradise  is  stained  with 
the  blood  of  a  brother  slain  by  a  brother's 
hand.  The  solemn  forests  are  filled  with 
cruel  and  degraded  savages.  The  pure- 
eyed  stars  look  down  on  scenes  of  violence 
and  lust.  The  golden  fields  of  grain  are 
trampled  and  destroyed  by  warring  armies 
locked  in  the  fury  of  the  death-struggle, 
and  the  clear  streams  are  defiled  with  car- 
nage. Avarice  and  envy,  guile  and  op- 
pression, wrath  and  falsehood,  perturb  and 


i- 


102  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

poison  the  springs  of  peace.  From  a  thou- 
sand reeking  cities  goes  up  the  pitiful  cry 
of  the  children  ;  from  every  land  the  exha- 
lations of  human  wickedness  and  woe  rise 
like  heavy  smoke  blackening  against  the 
blue  of  heaven. 

And  does  not  man  himself  feel  this  ? 
Does  he  not  know  that  there  is  something 
wrong  with  him  ?  Is  not  the  mark  of  shame 
written  on  his  brow,  and  the  sense  of  evil 
pressed  upon  his  heart  ? 

He  stands  amid  the  majestic  purity,  the 
unconscious  gladness  of  the  world,  like  a 
creature  under  an  unholy  spell. 

"  He  crouches  and  blushes, 

Absconds  and  conceals ; 
He  creepeth  and  pecpeth, 

He  palters  and  steals  ; 
Infirm,  melancholy, 

Jealous,  glancing  around, 
An  oaf,  an  accomplice, 

He  poisons  the  ground." 

What  ails  him,  the  Lord  of  all  things,  the 
flower  of  the  universe  ?  Who  has  drugged 
his  cup  and  mixed  his  bread  with  bitter- 
ness ?     What  fatal  power  has  marred  the 


TEE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  103 

joy  and  beauty  of  his  life  ?  What  mighty 
barrier  has  risen  between  his  soul  and 
God? 

Sin;  the  choice  of  evil  instead  of  good, 
the  perversion  of  the  desires,  the  slavery  of 
the  will,  the  darkening  of  the  mind,  the 
deadly  sickness  of  the  whole  heart.  This 
is  the  fountain  of  all  trouble,  the  cause  of 
all  disorder  and  wretchedness.  This  is  the 
wall  which  makes  the  world  seem  some- 
times like  a  prison  and  sometimes  like  a 
madhouse.  This  is  the  curse  which  destroys 
life's  harmony  and  beauty.  This  is  the  ob- 
stacle which  separates  the  soul,  in  darkness 
and  sorrow,  from  God.  The  forms  of  every 
religion,  the  voice  of  unceasing  prayers,  the 
smoke  of  endless  burnt-offerings,  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  goats,  the  oblations  of  all  that 
is  most  precious,  cruel  altars  drenched  with 
human  gore,  and  flames  consuming  the  off- 
spring of  man's  body,  —  gifts,  propitiations, 
pleadings,  sacrifices,  without  stint  and  with- 
out number, — bear  witness  to  the  deep  and 
awful  sense  of  sin  which  rests  upon  the  heart 
of  the  world. 


104  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

Look  now  into  your  own  heart  and  tell 
me  what  you  read  there.  Is  it  not  the  same 
inscription  ?  Are  you  higher  and  holier 
than  your  race  ?  Are  you  free  from  their 
burden  and  exempt  from  their  blame  ? 

You  do  not  dare  to  claim  it.  You  know 
that  you  are  bound  to  this  sinful,  perverted, 
and  unhappy  humanity.  The  same  passions 
which  have  wrought  the  discord  and  misery 
of  the  world  are  lurking  in  your  own  soul. 
You  know  that  your  heart  has  missed  its 
true  goal.  You  know  that  your  feet  have 
wandered  from  the  right  way.  You  know 
that  your  will  has  transgressed  the  law 
which  ought  to  bind  you.  Dimly  though 
you  discern  the  true  end  of  your  being,  you 
are  conscious  that  you  have  not  reached  it. 
Faintly  though  you  apprehend  the  glory 
of  God,  you  feel  that  you  have  come  far 
short  of  it.  Judged  by  the  standards  and 
commandments  of  men,  you  may  be  just 
and  free  from  blame.  But  you  know  that 
there  is  sometbing  higher  than  this.  You 
know  that  these  human  laws  and  tests  are 
imperfect  and  evil-tainted.    You  know  that 


THE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  105 

there  is  a  holiness  which  is  supreme  and 
perfect,  a  love  which  has  no  stain  or  shadow 
of  self  in  it,  a  will  which  flows  towards  the 
right  with  an  unswerving  and  ceaseless  mo- 
tion, —  and  this  is  God.  When  the  vision 
of  His  perfection  flashes  upon  you,  when 
you  know  that  you  were  made  in  His  image, 
born  to  love  Him  and  be  like  Him,  then 
you  are  humbled  in  the  darkness  and  the 
dust.  You  tremble  and  are  ashamed  before 
Him.  You  know  that  you  have  sunken  in- 
finitely below  Him,  you  have  forfeited  His 
favor,  you  are  an  offense  and  loathing  to 
His  pure  eyes. 

It  is  a  vain  thing  to  attempt  to  resolve 
this  sense  of  sin  into  a  mere  consciousness 
of  weakness  or  defect.  It  is  something 
far  deeper  and  more  painful  than  that.  To 
be  ignorant,  and  to  err  on  account  of  that 
ignorance ;  to  be  feeble,  and  to  fail  on  ac- 
count of  that  feebleness,  does  not  involve 
the  deep  and  burning  sense  of  guilt.  The 
blind  man  is  not  tortured  with  remorse 
because  he  cannot  see.  The  lame  man's 
conscience  does  not  reproach  him  because 


106  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

he  cannot  run  and  leap.  These  are  misfor- 
tunes beyond  the  power  of  man's  will  to 
prevent  or  remedy,  and  so  far  are  they  from 
increasing  guilt  and  condemnation  that  we 
actually  regard  them  as  excuses  and  pallia- 
tions. We  do  not  blame  the  man  whose 
eyes  are  darkened  for  walking  over  the  pre- 
cipice. We  do  not  demand  the  same  high 
virtue  from  the  ignorant  as  from  the  wise. 
Weakness  and  imperfection  call  forth  our 
pity,  rather  than  our  scorn.  But  with  sin 
there  is  a  world-wide  difference.  Here  the 
conscience  at  once  accuses  and  condemns. 
Here  the  sense  of  shame  and  guilt  burns 
into  the  soul  more  deeply  than  any  pain  of 
outward  consequences,  or  penalties  of  an 
offended  law.  A  commandment  broken,  a 
treasure  lost,  a  white  robe  stained  and  de- 
filed, a  flower  of  innocence  trampled  in  the 
mire,  a  holy  Judge  offended,  a  loving  Father 
wounded  and  thrust  aside,  a  divine  fellow- 
ship forfeited  and  destroyed,  —  these  are 
the  bitter  things  that  mingle  in  the  con- 
sciousness of   sin. 

And  these   are   the  things   that   divide 


TEE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  107 

the  soul  from  God.  Who  dares  deny  them 
or  make  light  of  them  ?  When  the  day  of 
judgment  bursts  in  flaming  splendor  upon 
the  world,  and  the  living  and  the  dead  are 
gathered  before  the  awful  throne,  who  will 
dare  to  lift  his  eyes  to  God  and  say,  "  I 
am  free  and  guiltless;  I  have  broken  no 
law  in  thought,  or  word,  or  deed ;  I  meet 
and  defy  Thy  justice  "  ?  Or  now,  at  this 
very  hour,  while  those  unseen  eyes  are  bent 
upon  us,  reading  our  hearts  to  their  very 
depths,  what  one  of  us  dare  lift  his  hand  to 
heaven  and  cry,  "  Behold  me,  for  I  am  pure ; 
let  Thy  light  flash  through  my  inmost  soul; 
there  is  no  stain  or  shadow  there  :  I  am 
perfect  like  Thee  and  fit  for  Thy  companion- 
ship :  sitting  among  the  husks  and  feeding 
on  them,  I  am  worthy  to  be  called  Thy 
son  "  ? 

We  can  not;  we  dare  not.  It  would  be 
blasphemy.  The  heavens  would  almost 
open  above  us  and  send  forth  a  flash  of 
light  to  destroy  us.  Whatever  men  may 
think  of  us,  whatever  honor  and  praise  may 
be  ours  in  the  world,  in  the  presence  of 


108  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

the  Holy  One  we  put  our  hands  on  our 
mouths  and  hide  our  faces  in  the  dust,  cry- 
ing, ''  Unclean,  unclean,  —  God  have  mercy 
upon  us  !" 

II.  But  now  behold  the  one  Being  in  the 
world  who  has  never  felt  this  defilement  of 
sin,  the  one  pure  and  perfect  Lamb  of  God. 
He  also  is  a  reality  ;  not  a  dream  or  an 
ideal,  but  a  living,  breathing  man ;  born 
into  the  world  in  the  likeness  of  our  flesh  ; 
growing,  thinking,  feeling,  laboring,  enjoy- 
ing, suffering,  even  as  we  do ;  tempted  in 
all  points  like  as  we  are,  and  yet  without 
sin.  This  holy  life  of  Christ  is  a  fact,  — 
solid,  substantial,  enduring.  It  stands  like 
a  rock  amid  the  billows  of  time.  All  the  as- 
saults of  skeptics  and  unbelievers,  the  open 
violence  of  avowed  enemies  and  the  secret 
treachery  of  hidden  foes,  have  not  availed 
to  destroy  or  even  to  shake  it.  It  abides. 
It  towers  high  above  the  highest  levels  of 
humanity.  It  shines  like  a  pillar  of  light. 
The  eyes  of  all  men  turn  to  it  with  wonder 
and  love. 

I  ask  you  to  search  the  book  of  history 


TEE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  109 

and  tell  me  if  you  can  find  one  character 
which  is  worthy  to  be  compared  for  a  mo- 
ment with  the  character  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth. What  company  of  honorable  men 
would  not  be  abashed  and  put  to  shame  by 
His  presence  ?  What  roll  of  lofty  names  is 
pure  enough  to  claim  an  equal  place  with 
His  name  ? 

I  ask  you  to  search  the  record  of  His 
life,  calmly,  fairly,  dispassionately,  and  tell 
me  if  there  be  any  spot  or  blemish  in  it. 
His  enemies  watched  him  like  hawks,  but 
they  never  found  the  slightest  trace  of 
sin.  Judas  would  have  given  the  world  to 
discover  the  faintest  suspicion  of  evil  in 
Him  whom  he  had  so  basely  sold  to  death, 
but  he  could  not,  and  he  cursed  himself  in 
the  despair  of  hell  because  he  had  betrayed 
the  innocent  blood.  Pilate,  the  cold  and 
haughty  Roman,  could  find  no  fault  in  Him, 
and  washed  his  hands  in  water  lest  the 
blood  of  that  Just  One  should  cling  to  them. 
The  friends  and  relatives  who  lived  with 
Him  in  the  familiar  intercourse  of  daily 
life  saw  no  defect  or  flaw  in  Him.     He  was 


110  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

not  holy  on  the  outside  only.  He  was  al- 
together pure.  The  sun  might  have  shone 
through  Him  without  disclosing  a  spot. 
Aye,  the  sun  did  shine  through  Him,  for 
He  stood  up  before  God  and  men  to  declare 
His  innocence.  He  cried  to  His  enemies, 
"  Who  among  you  convinceth  me  of  sin  ?  " 
He  said  to  God,  "  I  have  glorified  Thee 
on  the  earth.  I  have  finished  the  work 
Thou  gavest  me  to  do."  He  looked  up  to 
heaven  without  shame  and  without  repent- 
ance. And  no  fiery  shaft  leaped  forth  to 
blast  Him  for  presumption,  but  instead  the 
soft  sweet  radiance  of  divine  approval  fell 
upon  Him,  and  there  came  a  voice  from  the 
most  excellent  glory,  "  This  is  my  beloved 
Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased." 

Did  ever  flower  so  fair  blossom  before  or 
since  upon  this  blood-stained  earth?  Did 
ever  star  so  clear  shine  out  in  the  darkness 
of  the  night  of  sin  ?  Nay,  there  is  some- 
thing here  that  transcends  the  powers  of 
our  fallen  and  defiled  race,  something  more 
pure  and  holy  than  the  best  that  man  can 
do.   Here  is  a  manifestation  of  Divine  virtue 


THE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  Ill 

and  heavenly  beauty ;  here  is  an"unfolding 
of  the  perfect  and  eternal  Holiness ;  here  in- 
deed is  the  Lamb  of  God  in  whom  is  no 
sin. 

But  how  comes  He,  then,  into  a  sinful 
world  ?  How  has  His  life  been  bound  to 
that  of  corrupt  and  guilty  man  ?  Why  does 
He  suffer  the  pains  and  sorrows  which  are 
the  pimishment  of  sin,  and  finally  die  the 
death  of  a  transgressor  ? 

There  is  but  one  answer  which  can  eX' 
plain  this  mystery.  There  is  but  one  an- 
swer which  can  justify  a  just  God  in  per- 
mitting the  death  of  the  only  pure  and 
innocent  Being  who  ever  lived  on  earth. 
He  comes  voluntarily  into  the  world  to  offer 
Himself  as  a  sacrifice  for  the  zvorlcVs  sin. 
He  comes  to  take  away  the  curse  hy  hearing 
it  in  His  own  body.  He  comes  to  present 
to  God  that  holy  ayid  spotless  oblation  tvhich 
the  lost  race  could  never  find.  Myriads 
of  bulls  and  goats  had  been  offered  in 
vain  ;  thousands  of  altars  had  been  drenched 
with  blood  and  blackened  with  smoke  of 
fruitless  sacrifice;   then  said   He,    "Lo,  I 


112  THE  REALITY   OF  RELIGION. 

come :  in  the  volume  of  tlie  book  it  is  writ- 
ten of  me,  to  do  tliy  will,  O  God."  To  do 
all  tliat  tlie  law  demands  and  to  suffer  all 
that  sin  Las  deserved,  to  drink  to  the  dregs 
the  bitter  cup  of  anguish,  to  endure  the 
sharpness  of  death,  to  pour  out  the  last 
drop  of  the  willing  heart  upon  the  world's 
high  altar,  and  thus  to  reconcile  the  world 
to  God. 

This  was  the  purpose  of  Christ's  life, 
which  lay  upon  Him  from  the  beginning, 
and  without  which  we  cannot  understand 
His  words  or  His  actions.  This  is  why  the 
disciples  did  not  comprehend  Him,  because 
they  saw  not  the  awful  Cross  towards  which 
He  was  steadily  moving.  Judged  by  their 
standards.  His  life  was  strange  and  foolish 
and  unsuccessful.  He  cast  away  His  best 
opportunities  of  winning  the  people.  He 
chose  the  path  which  led  Him  away  from 
favor  and  power.  As  a  teacher,  as  a  leader, 
as  a  ruler  of  Israel,  He  failed.  But  as  a 
sacrifice  for  sin, —  ah!  there  He  is  crowned 
with  victory  and  glory. 

From  the  first  moment  of  His  ministry  He 


THE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  113 

took  this  burden  upon  Him,  —  the  burden 
of  the  world's  sin,  —  and  He  bore  it  to  the 
end. 

Why  was  His  head  bowed  with  grief,  and 
His  countenance  marred  above  the  sons  of 
men  ?  Because  the  load  of  the  sins  of  man- 
kind tvas  pressing  upon  His  heart.  Why- 
did  His  tears  fall  like  rain,  as  He  looked 
down  from  the  hillside  on  the  city  that  He 
longed  to  save?  Because  the  sorroio  of  sin 
—  sin  ivhich  rejected  and  despised  Him^ 
sin  ivhich  cast  aivaij  the  proffered  pardon 
and  scorned  the  mercy  of  Grod  —  was  pierc- 
ing His  soul.  Why  did  He  lie  upon  the 
ground,  in  the  darkness  of  Gethsemane,  and 
sweat  great  drops  of  blood  in  the  agony  of 
His  spirit  ?  Because  the  aivful  tveight  of  a 
ivorld's  sin  tvas  crushing  Him  in  heaviness 
even  unto  death. 

Ah !  not  half  so  heavy  was  the  ponderous 
cross  beneath  which  He  toiled  to  Calvary, 
as  the  burden  of  sin  which  He  took  upon 
His  shoulders.  Not  half  so  sharp  were  the 
nails  which  pierced  His  hands  and  feet,  as 
the  sorrow  for  sin  which  entered  into  His 

8 


114  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

soul.  Not  half  so  bitter  was  the  desertion 
of  His  disciples  or  the  loneliness  of  the  cross, 
as  the  dreadful  gloom  of  that  inward  desola- 
tion in  which  His  Father's  face  was  lost, 
and  He  cried  out  of  the  depths,  "  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  me  ? " 
Why,  indeed,  even  though  but  for  an  in- 
stant ?  Why,  indeed,  even  though  the  de- 
sertion was  not  real,  but  only  the  hiding  of 
the  Father's  face  by  the  black  cloud  of  an- 
guish? Why  did  God  even  seem  to  forsake 
Him  ?  Because  He  was  hearing  the  guilt  of 
a  world'' s  sin;  because  He  was  tasting  death 
for  every  man  ;  because  it  was  only  through 
the  horrible  darkness  of  that  passage  that  He 
could  enter  into  the  light  and  glory  of  the 
Redeemer^  hingdo7n. 

And  has  He  truly  entered  into  it  ?  Has 
the  sacrifice  availed  to  remove  the  curse 
and  destroy  the  enmity  ?  Has  the  blood 
of  Christ  made  peace  between  man  and 
God? 

III.  I  answer  in  the  words  of  the  text, 
"Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world."     When  John 


THE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  115 

said  this  it  was  a  dark  saying,  hard  to  be 
understood,  shining  only  with  the  dim  ra- 
diance of  hope.  But  to-day  it  is  a  light 
saying,  clear,  glorious,  resplendent.  For 
the  Son  of  Man  has  been  lifted  up,  even  as 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  those  who  have  believed  on  Him 
have  been  saved. 

The  saving  power  of  the  Cross  of  Christ  is 
no  theory  ;  it  is  a  fact.  The  sign  of  shame 
and  guilt  has  become  the  sign  of  faith  and 
hope.  The  instrument  of  torture  and  death, 
defiled  and  loathed  and  hated,  has  been 
lifted  out  of  the  gloom  and  horror  of  sin, 
transfigured,  crowned  with  honor  and  vic- 
tory, and  planted  forever  on  the  hill  of  sal- 
vation. The  eyes  of  the  world  turn  to  the 
Cross  of  Christ.  Fainting,  despairing,  dy- 
ing, bound  in  the  prison-houses  of  crime, 
languishing  in  the  lazarets  of  sin,  crushed 
under  the  load  of  transgressions,  parched 
and  burning  with  the  fever  of  life,  from 
every  place  of  sorrow  and  suffering  and 
darkness,  the  lost  children  of  man  are  look- 
ing to  the  Cross  with  speechless  longing, 


116     TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

and  feeling  its  blessed  power  with  unutter- 
able joy. 

When  we  see  the  Son  of  God  crucified  for 
us  we  are  delivered  and  healed  and  made 
alive.  The  burden  is  lifted  from  us,  and 
the  fetters  broken  by  His  pierced  hand. 
The  precious  blood  falls  upon  our  hearts, 
and  we  are  made  clean  and  pure.  The 
light  of  love  shining  from  that  Divine  face 
flows  into  our  souls,  and  we  see  God  recon- 
ciling the  world  to  Himself  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Here  at  last,  on  the  Cross,  is  the  sacrifice 
which  I  have  been  seeking,  but  could  never 
find ;  the  pure  and  perfect  offering  which 
God  cannot  refuse.  All  my  works  are  sin- 
ful and  all  my  offerings  tainted  with  evil. 
Never  can  I  atone  for  my  own  sins,  or  make 
a  propitiation  which  shall  take  away  their 
guilt.  But  this  is  the  Lamb  of  God,  with- 
out spot  or  blemish,  dying  for  me.  This  is 
my  sacrifice.  I  lay  hold  of  the  cross.  I 
touch  these  wounded  feet  and  plead  with 
God  by  the  merits  of  that  priceless  blood  to 
forgive  my  sins.  Thou  canst  not  refuse  me, 
for  my  heart  embraces  the  perfect  sacrifice. 


THE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  117 

and  His  offering  thou  wilt  not  despise. 
Yes,  I  know  that  my  sins  were  all  laid 
upon  His  head ;  I  know  that  He  bore  the 
curse  for  me ;  the  chastisement  of  our  peace 
was  upon  Him,  and  by  His  stripes  we  are 
healed. 

Here  too,  on  the  Cross,  I  see  the  pattern 
and  example  of  that  perfect  obedience  that 
I  fain  would  render  to  my  God.  Gladly 
would  I  live  the  life  of  filial  surrender  and 
self-sacrifice  ;  gladly  would  I  give  myself 
wholly  and  perfectly  to  God,  and  lose  myself 
entirely  in  His  will.  But  my  heart  is  weak 
and  wayward.  I  cannot  do  the  things  that 
I  would.  I  am  filled  with  shame  and  re- 
proach. I  need  a  stronger,  holier  motive. 
I  lay  hold  of  the  Cross.  I  look  up  to  Him. 
who  suffers  there,  and  pray,  "  Blessed  Mas- 
ter, make  me  more  like  Thyself ;  teach  me 
the  sanctifying  power  of  Thy  sacrificial 
love."  Oh,  how  strong  and  sweet  are  the 
influences  which  flow  to  us  from  the  Cross, 
lifting  us  up,  purifying  us,  making  us  will- 
ing to  endure  and  suffer  and  give  ourselves 
more  utterly  for  others  !  As  we  see  the 
blessed  Saviour  bleeding  and  dying  so  pa- 


118  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

tiently  for  us,  what  will  we  not  gladly  do 
for  Him  ?  Can  we  still  love  the  sins  which 
slew  Him  ?  Can  we  still  withhold  the 
hearts  for  which  He  asks  us  ?  "  For  Christ'' s 
sake.^^  '''' Remer}iher  Calvary y  These  words 
have  power  beyond  all  others  to  deliver  us 
from  the  bondage  of  evil,  and  bind  us  to  the 
life  of  holiness  and  obedience. 

And  here,  once  more,  on  the  Cross,  I  see 
the  pledge  and  proof  of  God's  infinite  love. 
He  has  not  cast  me  away  from  Him  into 
the  outer  darkness.  He  has  not  despised, 
or  hated,  or  forgotten  me  in  the  shame  and 
degradation  of  my  sin.  He  has  loved  me, 
and  sent  His  own  Son  to  die  for  me,  and 
redeem  me  to  Himself.  Just  is  He  and  al- 
together righteous,  but  He  is  also  forgiving 
and  merciful.  Who  can  measure  the  blessed 
life-giving  power  which  flows  from  this  rev- 
elation of  the  heart  of  God  upon  the  Cross 
of  Calvary?  It  kindles  our  desires  and  our 
hopes.  It  sweeps  away  the  mighty  barrier 
of  doubt  and  dread,  and  draws  us  gently  but 
resistlessly  to  our  Father's  breast.  It  speaks 
to  every  fallen,  downcast,  trembling  child 
of  man,  saying,  "  Fear  not,  for  I  am  thy  God 


THE  LIVING  SACRIFICE.  119 

and  thy  Redeemer ;  and  tliough  thou  hast 
lost  all  beside,  my  love  is  still  thine,  if  thou 
wilt  take  refuge  here." 

Can  we  doubt,  or  refuse  such  an  invita- 
tion ?  When  the  prodigal  son  was  returning 
from  his  life  of  sin  and  sorrow,  with  that 
penitent  confession  upon  his  lips,  ready  to 
take  the  lowest  and  meanest  place  among 
his  father's  servants,  I  can  well  believe  that 
his  heart  was  still  troubled  with  fears  and 
forebodings.  What  right  had  he  to  come 
back?  What  claim  had  he  upon  his  father's 
favor?  As  he  drew  near  to  the  house  he 
may  well  have  trembled,  and  stood  still, 
and  turned  to  go  away.  But  when  his  fa- 
ther ran  to  meet  him,  and  threw  his  kind 
arms  about  his  neck,  then  all  doubt  was 
swept  away,  and  he  knew  that  he  was  loved. 

In  the  Cross  of  Christ  God  is  forever 
coming  down  to  meet  His  sinful  children, 
even  while  yet  they  are  yet  a  great  way  off. 
His  arms  of  love  are  cast  about  us.  We 
are  drawn  to  His  forgiving  heart.  A  great 
calm  falls  upon  our  weary  souls.  We  have 
peace  with  God,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  His  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin. 


VI. 

THE   LIVING  CHRIST. 


VI 


Revelation  i.  i8.  I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead ; 
and  behold  I  am  alive  for  ever7nore,  Ame7i ;  and  have 
the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death. 

The  world  needs  more  than  a  Redeemer. 
It  needs  a  Master,  a  Ruler,  a  living  Lord. 

When  the  guilt  of  sin  has  been  taken 
away  by  the  perfect  sacrifice  of  the  cross, 
when  the  inexorable  law  of  righteousness 
has  been  satisfied  and  the  barrier  between 
man  and  God  forever  destroyed  by  the 
death  of  Jesus,  the  way  of  salvation  is  in- 
deed made  free  and  clear,  but  the  work  of 
salvation  is  not  yet  accomplished.  There 
must  be  a  continuous  exercise  of  divine 
power  upon  the  weakened  and  perverted 
hearts  of  men ;  there  must  be  an  uplifting, 
and  quickening  and  guiding  of  the  world  by 
an  ever-living  and  ever-present  Saviour. 

Therefore  the  resurrection  is  a  necessary 
part  of  the  plan  of  redemption.     God  could 


124  TEE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

not  leave  Christ's  soul  in  Hades,  nor  suffer 
His  Holy  One  to  see  corruption.  For  then, 
although  the  sacrifice  on  Calvary  was  com- 
plete and  sufficient,  it  would  have  been  lost 
in  the  darkness  of  the  grave.  It  would  never 
have  rescued  the  world  from  death.  It 
would  have  made  salvation  possible  but  not 
actual.  Passing  into  history,  it  would  have 
left  the  record,  that  although  the  justice  of 
God  was  vindicated  in  the  perfect  satisfac- 
tion of  the  law,  and  although  the  mercy  of 
God  was  revealed  in  the  sending  of  His  own 
Son  to  die  for  sinners,  yet,  for  all  that, 
mankind  was  lost,  for  want  of  a  living  and 
abiding  Christ. 

I  pray  you  to  mark  this  truth.  A  dead 
Christ  can  never  save  us.  Even  though  He 
be  crucified  for  us,  even  though  our  sins  be 
laid  upon  Him  and  our  curse  borne  in  His 
body  on  the  tree,  even  though  we  behold 
Him  delivered  for  our  offences  and  slain  for 
our  redemption,  —  a  dead  Christ  upon  the 
cross  can  never  save  us. 

There  must  be  the  living  Christ  in  our 
hearts.     He   must  be  raised  again  for  our 


THE  LIVING   CHRIST.  125 

justification.  The  sepulchre  must  give  Him 
back  to  us.  The  dark  under- world,  into 
which  He  descended  for  our  sakes,  must 
restore  Him  to  our  faith  and  fellowship. 
Yea,  the  heaven  from  which  He  came  must 
receive  Him,  that  He  may  be  clothed  once 
more  with  the  glory  which  He  laid  aside  at 
His  birth,  that  He  may  no  more  be  hum- 
bled to  the  narrow  confines  of  a  servant's 
form  and  a  servant's  life,  but  reigning  in 
restored  omniscience  and  omnipotence  and 
omnipresence,  may  manifest  throughout  the 
world  His  wisdom  and  His  power  to  save  to 
the  uttermost  all  that  call  upon  Him. 

This,  then,  is  the  glorious  meaning  of  the 
resurrection.  It  is  the  divine  answer  to 
the  soul's  cry  for  a  living  Saviour.  It  is  the 
revelation  of  One  who  was  subject  to  the 
power  of  death  willingly  and  for  a  season, 
not  of  necessity  and  forever.  It  is  the 
shining-forth  of  the  bright  and  changeless 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  conquering  the  dark 
grave-clouds  and  rejoicing  as  a  strong  man 
to  run  His  everlasting  race  of  glory  and 
blessing.     It  is  the  assurance  to  the  world 


126     THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

that  the  Son  of  Man  did  not  perish  in  His 
attempt  to  redeem  humanity,  but  won  the 
victory  in  the  shadowy  realm  of  death,  van- 
quishing the  great  adversary,  capturing  cap- 
tivity ;  and  henceforth  He  is  manifested  as 
Jesus  Christ  the  Son  of  God,  the  same  yes- 
terday, to-day,  and  forever. 

You  see,  now,  why  the  Church  built  upon 
this  fact  of  the  resurrection  as  the  corner- 
stone of  her  faith.  You  see  why  she  made 
it  the  great  theme  of  her  preaching  to  pro- 
claim Jesus  and  the  resurrection.  You  see 
why  she  chose  not  Friday,  the  day  on  which 
Christ  died,  but  Sunday,  the  day  on  which 
He  rose  from  the  dead,  as  her  holy-day  of 
rest  and  gladness.  Not  because  the  resur- 
rection is  more  sacred  or  more  important 
than  the  crucifixion ;  but  because,  without 
the  resurrection,  the  crucifixion  would  be  an 
unutterable  and  irremediable  loss,  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  most  holy  life  and  char- 
acter that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  the 
vanishing  forever  from  the  earth  of  the  most 
precious  power  that  has  ever  entered  it, 
yes,  the  seal  of  failure  upon  the  work  of 


THE  LIVING  CHRIST.  127 

Christ  and  the  annihilation  of  all  our  hopes 
of  immortalit}^  and  heaven,  for  "if  Christ 
be  not  raised  your  faith  is  vain  ;  ye  are  yet 
in  your  sins."  But  if  He  be  risen  then  our 
faith  is  sure.  Then  the  triumph  of  love 
and  life  over  sin  and  death  is  accomplished 
and  secure.  Then  the  dawning  of  every 
Lord's  day  that  shines  upon  our  darkened 
earth  brings  to  us  a  bright  and  glad  re- 
minder of  that  eternal  light  which  the 
grave  itself  could  not  quench,  —  that  light 
which  even  now  fills  the  heavens  as  it  fills 
our  hearts,  —  the  light  of  the  glory  of  God 
shining  for  evermore  in  the  face  of  Christ 
Jesus. 

To  this  light  I  ask  you  to  turn  your  eyes. 
Away  from  all  that  is  transitory  and  perish- 
ing, away  from  all  that  is  threatened  by 
change  and  shadowed  by  decay,  away  from 
all  that  feels  the  power  of  mortal  pain  and 
sorrow  and  dissolution,  let  us  look  to  Him 
that  liveth  and  was  dead  and  is  alive  for 
evermore  and  hath  the  keys  of  hell  and  of 
death.  Let  us  rest  our  souls  upon  the  real- 
ity of  the  living  Christ. 


128     THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

I.  Consider,  in  the  first  place,  the  glorious 
certainty  of  the  fact  that  on  the  third  day 
after  His  death,  He  left  the  grave  and  came 
forth  alive  into  the  living  world.  This 
fact  I  say  is  a  glorious  certainty.  There  is 
no  event  in  history  so  well  attested.  If  we 
can  be  sure  of  anything  in  the  past  we  can 
be  sure  of  this. 

We  know  that  Christ  is  risen  because  His 
sepulchre  is  empty.  Where  is  He  gone  ? 
What  power  has  broken  the  imperial  seal 
of  Rome,  and  rolled  away  the  ponderous 
stone  from  the  mouth  of  the  tomb?  The 
feeble,  scattered,  trembling  disciples  who 
fled  in  terror  when  they  saw  Him  con- 
demned to  die  ?  Impossible.  Physically 
impossible,  that  they  should  have  braved 
and  baffled  and  overcome  the  power  of  the 
world-empire  as  it  was  embodied  in  those 
stern  and  vigilant  soldiers  guarding  the  seal 
which  it  was  death  to  touch.  Morally  im- 
possible, that  these  men,  whose  character 
was  so  pure  and  true  that  the  world  owes 
to  them  its  spiritual  regeneration,  should 
ever  have  stooped  to  an  act  of  the  basest 


TEE  LIVING  cnnisT.  129 

deceit,  should  ever  have  stolen  away  their 
Master's  body  by  craft,  and  then  adhered 
with  unalterable  pertinacity  to  a  falsehood 
whose  only  consequence  was  to  expose  them 
to  the  world's  bitterest  hatred  and  perse- 
cution. Men  do  not  steal  or  lie  without  a 
motive.  What  motive  could  have  induced 
the  disciples  of  Christ  to  perpetrate  such  a 
fiction  as  this,  —  a  fiction  which  must  have 
separated  them  forever  from  their  Master, 
whose  words  were  purity  and  truth,  — a 
fiction  which  involved  the  sacrifice  of  all 
that  they  held  dearest  on  earth,  their  former 
religion,  their  homes,  their  friends,  their 
property,  their  peace,  their  lives  ?  Do  you 
believe  that  men  will  make  such  sacrifices 
for  a  baseless  and  fruitless  lie?  Incredible. 
By  the  stone  rolled  awaj^,  by  the  vacant 
sepulchre,  by  the  deserted  grave-clothes, 
we  know  that  Christ  Himself  has  left  the 
tomb. 

We  know  it  also  by  the  testimony  of 
many  unimpeachable  witnesses  who  saw 
Jesus  in  the  flesh  after  He  had  risen,  —  men 
and  women  who  were  in  no  condition  to  see 


130  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

a  vision  of  exalted  fanc}^  for  tlie  dreadful 
gloom  of  the  crucifixion,  the  strong  im- 
pression of  that  visible  and  unmistakable 
death,  still  rested  on  their  minds.  They 
had  seen  Him  with  their  own  eyes  as  He 
hung  upon  the  cross.  They  had  watched 
the  Leavings  of  His  suffering  breast,  and 
seen  the  pallor  settling  on  His  brow.  They 
had  heard  the  last  cry  of  agony  and  triumph, 
and  beheld  the  wounded  head  fall  upon  His 
bosom.  They  had  seen  the  spear  thrust 
into  His  side,  and  felt  the  dead  weight  of 
His  body  as  they  lifted  it  from  the  accursed 
tree  and  laid  it  reverently  in  the  rock-hewn 
sepulchre.  They  had  come,  —  as  soon  as 
the  Sabbath  was  passed  and  He  had  been 
so  long  dead  that  His  enemies  would  feel  no 
fear  in  admitting  them  to  His  sepulchre,  — 
they  had  come  very  early  in  the  morning 
of  the  first  day  of  the  week,  not  with  any 
hope  or  thought  of  seeing  Him  alive,  but 
with  sweet  spices  that  they  might  tenderly 
embalm  His  dead  body.  Were  these  the 
people  to  dream  dreams  or  see  ghosts  ? 
Were   these   the   hearts   in  which   such   a 


THE  LIVING   CHRIST.  181 

magnificent  and  startling  conception  as  the 
resurrection  could  create  itself  out  of  noth- 
ing, and,  in  spite  of  the  sorrowful  evidence 
of  a  memory  but  three  days  old,  force  them 
to  believe  in  its  reality  ?  I  tell  you  these 
women  and  these  disciples  knew  the  facts 
of  Jesus'  death  only  too  well ;  and  nothing 
but  a  fact  could  have  made  them  believe 
that  He  was  alive  again. 

They  tell  us  that  the}^  saw  the  risen  Jesus. 
And  mark  the  manner  in  which  they  saw 
Him.  They  do  not  tell  us  that  Christ 
appeared  to  them  in  trances  or  midnight 
visions  of  ecstasy,  but  in  the  common  walks 
of  daily  life,  in  the  garden  of  the  Arima- 
thean  Joseph,  on  the  high-road  to  Emmaus, 
by  the  sea-shore  where  they  were  busy  with 
their  fishing.  He  talked  with  them,  ate 
with  them,  they  touched  Him.  They  do 
not  relate  marvelous  tales  of  garments  rust- 
ling and  features  dimly  gleaming  in  the 
shade  of  darkened  rooms.  In  the  cool  hours 
of  the  early  morning,  under  the  searching 
sunlight,  in  the  open  air,  Jesus  comes  to 
them.     They  do  not  tell  us  only  of  what 


132  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

was  seen  by  solitary  wanderers  in  tlieir 
lonely  hours ;  but  they  assure  us  tliat  He 
was  seen  of  more  than  five  hundred  breth- 
ren at  one  time,  in  the  clear  daylight. 
And  this  assurance  was  written,  not  long 
afterwards  when  all  of  the  alleged  behold- 
ers were  dead,  but  within  less  than  thirty 
years  after  the  death  of  Christ,  when  many 
of  the  eye-witnesses  still  lived  and  could 
bear  testimony  to  its  truthfulness.  These 
are  not  the  words  of  madness  or  deceit. 
They  are  calm  and  dispassionate  narratives 
which  bear  the  tests  of  evidence.  They 
cannot  be  explained  on  any  other  suppo- 
sition than  the  reality  of  the  resurrection. 

Moreover,  we  know  that  Christ  is  risen 
because  the  faith  in  His  resurrection  has 
produced  such  vast  and  enduring  results  in 
the  world.  It  is  on  the  strength  of  this 
fact  that  His  religion  has  been  accepted 
and  has  won  its  mighty  triumphs  in  the 
world.  A  French  philosopher  was  once 
complaining  to  a  friend  that  although  he 
had  invented  a  most  beautiful  religion,  he 
could  not  persuade  any  one  to  believe  it. 


THE  LIVING    CHRIST.  133 

*'I  will  tell  you  what  you  shall  do,"  said  the 
friend  ;  '^you  shall  get  yourself  crucified  and 
rise  again  on  the  third  day  from  the  dead ; 
then  every  one  will  believe  it.''' 

In  this  keen  reply  a  great  truth  lies  hid- 
den. The  secret  of  Christianity  is  the  reality 
of  the  resurrection.  This  is  the  fountain- 
head  to  which  we  may  trace  the  stream  of 
its  success.  By  this  stupendous  fact  we 
see,  first  of  all,  the  disciples  transformed 
from  trembling,  doubting  cowards,  over- 
whelmed with  disappointment  and  despair, 
into  brave,  confident  soldiers,  full  of  zeal, 
courage,  strength.  We  see  the  faith  which 
had  obtained,  during  the  years  of  Christ's 
ministry  in  the  flesh,  but  a  few  hundred  ad- 
herents, suddenly  winning  in  a  single  day 
three  thousand  souls.  We  see  those  who 
had  been  cold,  mistrustful,  hostile  toward 
Jesus  changed  into  His  ardent  disciples,  and 
setting  forth  without  misgiving  to  conquer 
the  world  for  Him.  We  see  the  resurrec- 
tion-faith sweeping  like  a  flood  of  light  over 
land  and  sea,  conquering  all  obstacles,  gain- 
ing cities  and  tribes  and  whole  nations  for  its 


134  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

own,  and  covering  the  earth  with  countless 
spires,  each  one  of  which  points  up  to  heaven 
as  a  silent  witness  that  Christ  is  risen. 

Are  not  these  vast  and  innumerable  ceme- 
teries of  the  world,  crowded  with  the  memo- 
rials of  a  deathless  hope  even  in  the  face 
of  death,  evidences  of  the  reality  of  the  res- 
urrection ?  Is  not  this  long  line  of  more  than 
ninety  thousand  Christian  Sundays  stretch- 
ing back  like  a  row  of  shining,  glorious,  im- 
movable pillars  to  the  garden  of  the  Ari- 
mathean,  a  monument  to  the  reality  of  the 
resurrection?  Yes,  we  know  that  it  is  true. 
Because  the  darkness  is  broken  and  the 
shadows  flee  away  from  the  soul  of  man, 
because  the  clouds  that  hang  above  the 
grave  are  touched  with  light  and  glor}^,  be- 
cause the  flowers  of  faith  and  love  and  hope 
and  holiness  have  unclosed  their  folded 
leaves  and  blossomed  around  the  earth,  we 
know  that  the  Sun,  even  the  Lord  Christ,  is 
risen. 

But  if  we  need  another  evidence,  we  have 
it  in  the  testimony  of  those  who  have  seen 
the   risen  Saviour  in  the   splendor  of   His 


THE  LIVING  CHRIST.  135 

heavenly  existence.  Three  men,  pure,  sober, 
trustworthy,  have  beheld  in  the  flesli  this 
majestic  vision,  and  left  the  record  of  what 
they  saw  for  our  faith  to  build  upon. 

Stephen,  the  first  martyr,  dying  amid  the 
stones  and  curses  of  his  enemies,  looked  up- 
ward, and  saw  the  heavens  opened,  and  tlie 
Son  of  Man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of 
God. 

Saul  of  Tarsus,  journeying  to  Damascus 
on  his  mission  of  persecution  and  death  to 
the  Christians,  was  smitten  to  the  ground 
in  the  cloudless  noonday  by  a  light  far 
above  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  and  beheld 
in  the  midst  of  the  g^ory  the  form  of  that 
Jesus  whom  he  persecuted. 

John,  dwelling  in  lonely  exile  on  the  rocky 
isle  of  Patmos,  was  in  the  spirit  on  the  Lord's 
day,  and  heard  a  mighty  voice  like  the  sound 
of  many  waters,  and  saw,  in  the  heart  of  an 
undescribable  radiance,  one  like  unto  the 
Son  of  Man,  clothed  with  a  splendor  so 
majestic  that  John  fell  at  his  feet  as  dead. 
But  the  Lord  laid  His  right  hand  upon  him 
and  said,  "  Fear  not :  I  am  the  first  and  the 


136  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

last :  I  am  He  that  livetli  and  was  dead ; 
and  behold  I  am  alive  for  evermore,  Amen  ; 
and  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death." 
Yes,  it  is  the  same  who  once  hung  upon  the 
cross  in  agony  and  shame  so  great  that  the 
sun  hid  his  face  in  horror ;  it  is  the  same 
who  was  wrapped  in  the  grave-clothes  and 
laid  in  the  darkness  of  the  sepulchre ;  it  is 
the  same  whom  His  disciples  mourned  as 
the  lost  Hope  of  Israel,  and  for  whose  em- 
balmment the  sorrowing  women  brought 
sweet  spices  on  that  Sunday  morning  eigh- 
teen hundred  years  ago  ;  it  is  the  same  Jesus 
now  crowned  with  honor  and  glory  at  the 
right  hand  of  God.  This  is  He  that  liveth 
and  was  dead.  The  grave-clothes  could  not 
bind  Him,  the  tomb  could  not  stay  Him, 
the  under-world  could  not  contain  Him. 
He  has  risen.  He  has  ascended  up  on 
high,  and  behold  He  is  alive  for  evermore, 
Amen. 

II.  Consider,  in  the  second  place,  the 
nature  and  evidences  of  this  everlasting  life 
which  belongs  to  the  risen  Christ.  Clearly 
it  must  be  a  reality,  not  a  mere  ideal  or 


THE  LIVING  CHRIST.  137 

imaginary  existence.  And  just  as  clearly  it 
must  be  a  mysterious  and  incomprehensible 
reality.  We  cannot  look  with  our  feeble 
and  darkened  eyes  into  the  heavenly  regions. 
We  cannot  discern  or  understand  the  man- 
ner of  life  in  which  the  ascended  Lord  now 
dwells.  We  cannot  tell  how  He  looks,  or 
in  what  glorious  activities  He  is  employed, 
or  in  what  shining  place  His  blessed  throne 
is  established. 

"Jesus,  these  eyes  have  never  seen 

That  radiant  form  of  Thine ; 
The  veil  of  sense  hangs  dark  between 
Thy  blessed  face  and  mine." 

But  one  thing  we  do  know,  one  thing  we 
may  be  sure  of: — the  life  of  the  risen 
Christ,  reaching  away  out  into  the  endless 
future,  with  all  the  power  of  sympathy  and 
help  won  by  His  earthly  experience,  with 
all  the  might  and  glory  of  His  victory  over 
sin  and  death,  abiding  and  growing  through 
ages  of  ages,  —  this  divine  immortal  life  is 
for  evermore  a  life  for  men,  a  life  of  succor 
and  comfort,  blessing  and  salvation,  flowing 
out  in  heavenly  grace  and  power  into  this 
sorrowful  and  sinful  earth. 


138     THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

Here  we  touch  the  reality  on  its  human 
side.  Here  we  find  that  which  we  can 
know  and  understand.  Here,  in  the  moral 
and  spiritual  life  of  man,  we  behold  the  evi- 
dences of  the  living  Christ,  still  dwelling 
and  working  in  the  world  which  He  died  to 
redeem. 

Observe  the  bearing  of  this  argument. 
We  rely  for  the  proof  of  the  historical  fact 
that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  upon  histor- 
ical evidence.  We  rely  for  the  proof  of  the 
spiritual  fact  that  Christ  is  alive  for  ever- 
more upon  spiritual  evidence.  But  the  two 
facts  correspond  and  are  linked  together. 
If  Christ  be  not  risen,  then  all  the  inward 
life  of  Christendom  is  a  dream,  a  delusion, 
a  lie.  But  if  Christ  be  risen,  then  all  the 
influences  of  purity  and  love  and  goodness 
that  are  working  in  the  hearts  of  men,  all 
the  heavenly  hopes  and  aspirations  and 
endeavors  of  the  world,  are  the  proofs  and 
revelations  of  His  present  and  everlasting 
life. 

Is  the  Gospel  still  an  active  and  potent 
force  in  the  world,  quickening  men  who  are 


THE  LIVING  CHRIST.  139 

dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  converting  them, 
building  them  up  in  righteousness  and  love, 
enlightening  them  with  heavenly  wisdom, 
and  comforting  them  with  heavenly  grace? 
It  is  because  the  voice  of  the  living  Christ 
still  speaks  in  it.  Are  the  Sacraments  filled 
with  spiritual  life  and  strength,  satisfying 
and  nourishing  the  soul  with  divine  food  ? 
It  is  because  they  are  made  the  channels 
of  the  power  of  the  living  Christ.  Is  the 
Church  alive,  throbbing  and  glowing  with 
faith  and  love,  laboring  earnestly  and  pa- 
tiently for  the  salvation  of  men,  shining 
with  a  more  than  earthly  radiance,  aspir- 
ing, hoping,  struggling  upward,  sending  out 
from  her  warm,  deep  heart  the  streams  of 
pity  and  compassion  and  unselfish  charity 
without  which  this  world  would  be  an  un- 
endurable desert?  It  is  because  she  is  the 
body  of  the  living  Christ.  If  He  were 
dead  she  must  perish.  But  because  He  is 
alive  she  lives  also. 

Wherever  human  hearts  are  reaching  up 
from  the  shadows  of  this  mortal  sphere  to 
lay  hold  upon  the  eternal  God,  wherever 


140  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

the  pure  flowers  of  truth  and  peace  and 
holiness  are  springing  from  the  dull  and 
barren  soil  of  humanity,  wherever  men  and 
women  are  suffering  patientl}^,  toiling  nobly, 
giving  themselves  generously  for  the  good 
of  others,  wherever  the  Holy  Ghost  is  work- 
ing, wherever  faith  is  burning,  wherever 
love  is  shining,  there  is  the  living  Christ. 

All  light  and  power  and  goodness  come 
from  Him.  The  Divine  Spirit  who  keeps 
the  world  from  death,  who  quickens  in  our 
hearts  the  mysterious  heavenly  life,  is  His 
messenger  and  witness,  proceeding  not  from 
the  Father  only,  but  from  the  Father  and 
the  Son.  He  reveals  unto  us  not  a  dead 
Christ,  but  the  living  Christ ;  and  we  know 
the  truth  of  Paul's  saying,  "  I  am  crucified 
with  Christ :  nevertheless  I  live :  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me ;  and  the  life  which 
I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  the  faith 
of  the  Son  of  God  who  loved  me  and  gave 
Himself  for  me." 

'•^Christ  in  us  the  hope  of  glory  ^^  —  this  is 
no  dream,  no  fable,  but  a  blessed  reality. 

There  is  not  a  power  which  He  exercised, 


THE  LIVING  CHRIST.  141 

there  is  not  a  quality  which  He  manifested, 
in  His  eartlilj  ministry,  which  He  is  not 
exercising  and  manifesting  to-day  in  the 
hearts  of  men.  Did  He  rule  then  with 
gracious  power  over  the  souls  of  the  few 
who  knew  and  loved  Him  ?  He  is  reigning 
to-day  over  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
of  living  liearts  who  would  gladly  die  for 
the  honor  of  His  name.  Did  He  restore  the 
sick  and  comfort  the  sorrowing?  He  is 
giving  life  and  health  to-day  to  many  a 
penitent  sinner,  and  pouring  His  consola- 
tions like  balm  into  many  a  wounded  and 
suffering  spirit.  Did  He  give  rest  to  the 
weary  and  heavy-laden  ?  His  peace  is  still 
flowing  like  a  river  into  many  a  troubled 
soul,  His  voice  is  still  hushing  the  storms 
of  grief  and  passion.  His  benediction  is  still 
resting  upon  our  hearts  even  as  His  kind 
hands  once  rested  on  the  heads  of  the  little 
children  at  His  knee. 

"  In  joy  of  inward  peace,  or  sense 
Of  sorrow  over  sin, 
He  is  His  own  best  evidence; 
His  witness  is  within. 


142  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

"  No  fable  old,  nor  mythic  lore, 
Nor  dream  of  bards  and  seers ; 
No  dead  fact  stranded  on  the  shore 
Of  the  oblivious  years,  — 

**  But  warm,  sweet,  tender,  even  yet 
A  present  help  is  He ; 
And  faith  has  still  its  Olivet, 
And  love  its  Galilee. 

**  The  healing  of  His  seamless  dress 
Is  by  our  beds  of  pain  ; 
We  touch  Him  in  life's  throng  and  press, 
And  we  are  whole  again. 

**  O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all, 
Whate'er  our  name  or  sign, 
We  own  Thy  sway,  we  hear  Thy  call. 
We  test  our  lives  by  Thine. 

"  Apart  from  Thee  all  gain  is  loss. 
All  labor  vainly  done; 
The  solemn  shadow  of  Thy  cross 
Is  better  than  the  sun. 

"  Alone,  O  Love  ineffable, 
Thy  saving  name  is  given ; 
To  turn  aside  from  Thee  is  hell,  — 
To  walk  with  Thee  is  heaven." 

III.   Finally,  let  us  remember  that  this 
risen  Christ,  who  liveth  and  was  dead  and  is 


THE  LIVING   CHRIST.  143 

alive  for  evermore,  is  He  vrho  holds  the 
keys  of  hell  and  of  death. 

Oh,  that  I  could  find  the  power  to  express 
the  joy  and  comfort  which  dwell  in  this 
majestic  truth  ! 

It  has  been  well  said,  by  one  who  speaks 
always  to  the  heart,  that  there  are  many 
doors  about  us  in  the  world,  —  doors  of  joy 
and  sorrow,  doors  of  labor  and  suffering, 
doors  of  success  and  failure.  And  as  our 
lives  go  on  we  are  passing  through  them 
one  by  one ;  we  are  finding  out  what  lies 
behind  them ;  our  experience  is  putting 
into  our  hand  the  keys  which  unlock  them 
and  disclose  their  secrets.  But  there  is  one 
door  which  baffles  us.  Dark,  cold,  forbid- 
ding, it  stands  in  the  midst  of  this  green 
and  beautiful  world,  —  the  iron  door  of 
death.  All  the  paths  of  mortal  life  lead 
thither;  but  there  is  none  that  returns  from 
that  mysterious  portal.  We  see  men  and 
women  and  little  children  vanishing  within 
its  gloom  ;  year  by  year,  those  that  are 
nearest  and  dearest  are  passing  away  from 
us  over  that  stern  threshold  j  but  not  one 


144     THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

of  tliem  comes  back  to  us  to  tell  us  what  is 
beyond.  Our  own  footsteps  are  drawing 
near  to  it :  we  cannot  shun  or  escape  it :  a 
heavy  hand  is  on  us  pushing  us  forward. 
Through  the  flowers  and  sunshine,  through 
the  thorns  and  tempests,  through  every  year 
and  every  day,  we  are  moving  toward  that 
iron  door. 

We  tremble.  We  are  afraid.  Our  hearts 
are  chilled  and  darkened  by  the  awful  mys- 
tery. Who  will  open  this  door  for  us  ? 
Who  will  show  us  the  things  which  lie  be- 
hind it  ?  Who  will  unlock  and  disclose  the 
mystery  of  death? 

Behold  the  living  Christ.  He  has  passed 
through  that  shadowy  portal,  and  has  come 
back  again.  He  holds  the  keys  of  the  grave 
and  of  the  under  -  world.  He  stands  be- 
side us  in  the  hour  of  fear  and  grief.  He 
touches  the  heavy  door  and  it  swings  open. 
We  see  the  inner  side  of  it,  and  lo !  it  is  not 
of  iron  hut  of  (/old,  for  it  is  the  door  of  the 
heavenly  city.  Dark  is  the  entrance  of  that 
gateway,  but  just  within  its  shadow  lies  the 
world  of  light.     Lonely  is  the  brief  passage 


THE  LIVING  CHRIST.  145 

to  the  eye  of  mortal  sense,  but  the  moment 
of  parting  is  the  moment  of  meeting  with 
God,  and  Jesus,  and  the  innumerable  com- 
pany of  angels  and  ransomed  saints. 

Stoop  down  and  look  through  that  narrow 
opening,  O  mourning  heart,  and  you  shall 
see  that  those  whom  you  bewail  as  lost  are 
dwelling  in  peace  and  blessedness,  and  wait- 
ing for  you  to  join  them.  Weep  no  more. 
Rejoice,  be  glad,  and  sing.  The  mystery  of 
death  is  solved.  The  shadow  of  death  is 
broken.  For  those  who  are  in  Christ,  to  be 
absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  present  with 
the  Lord.  This  life  of  ours  is  no  brief  and 
transient  stream,  flowing  turbidly  through 
a  few  short  years,  and  then  sinking  in  the 
grave.  It  is  immortal,  glorious,  blessed. 
Through  the  dark  portal  it  passes  instantly 
into  light  and  peace. 

Are  the  birds  singing  here  with  joyous 
melody  ?  Yonder  the  angels  are  singing 
forever  about  the  throne. 

Are  the  flowers  blooming  here  in  fragrance 
and  beauty  ?     Yonder  the  tree  of  life  is  blos- 
soming beside  the  crystal  ivaters, 
10 


146  THE  REALITY  OF  RELIGION. 

Is  the  sun  shining  here  in  majesty  and 
glory  ?  Yonder  the  face  of  Christ  is  shin- 
ing, and  they  need  no  candle,  neither  light 
of  the  sun,  for  the  Lord  G-od  giveth  them 
light,  and  they  shall  reign  forever  and  ever. 


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